


Harry Potter and the Guardians of Kandrakar

by crystallies, Spottedleafpaw



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, W.I.T.C.H.
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Crossover Pairings, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Unforgivable Curses (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2018-06-07 20:04:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 47,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6822094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystallies/pseuds/crystallies, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spottedleafpaw/pseuds/Spottedleafpaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*UPDATED* As of Nov. 2017!</p><p>It's Harry's sixth year and five curious newcomers arrive and turn Hogwarts as he knows it upside down... Could they help him with his quest to vanquish the Dark Lord? </p><p>Planned to span through HBP and DH, plus Post-War. Many pairings, a lot of emotional turmoil. Follows the W.I.T.C.H. comic series, not the television show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which It Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of Nov. 2017, I have gone through this fic and touched up some plot points that bothered me, as well as attempting to fix any errors I can find in general. Refurbished to the best of my ability, here is the new and improved story, which I hope to continue to completion.
> 
> Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling; W.I.T.C.H. was created by Elisabetta Gnone. I do not own either of these works, I'm just having some fun in their worlds for a while.
> 
> Author's Note at the end may answer some of your questions, but for now, enjoy!

As she tortured the Muggleborn woman, Bellatrix Lestrange felt a sort of sense of purpose swell in her bosom. It was glee to hear the screams produced from the Cruciatus curse, so much of it that Bellatrix let out a cackle of giddy laughter as the twitching body of the woman convulsed around her swollen stomach. She flicked her wand, and the woman was sent hurling towards the back wall, where her head smacked against the stone with a sharp crack.

"Filthy Muggle! That will teach you to breed, polluting the world with more of your dirty spawn!" she spat, and turned to her Lord seeking approval.

Her master gazed upon the face of his most devoted follower, but not with a look of pride. Bellatrix quickly turned her focus back to the blond woman who was struggling to move, whimpering in pain.

" _Crucio!_ Where is the book? Answer me, filth!" she cried, and a fresh sea of agonized screams were ripped from the woman's throat. Lord Voldemort shook his head in disgust.

"Come now, Bellatrix. You can do better than that," his high, cold voice spoke. Bellatrix quickly marched over to her victim and grabbed her by the hair.

"Tell us where it is, mudblood. Tell us, and I'll kill you quickly," she whispered venomously. The blond woman, desperate for her unborn child, pointed towards a desk.

"The... Under the floorboards..." she rasped out, before crumpling to the ground with another spasm of pain as Bellatrix released her and swiftly made her way to the desk. She used her wand to detect protective spells, and disabled the few she found.

" _Accio book,"_  she breathed, and an ordinary, brown leather bound tome shot up, splintering through the floorboards and into her hand. She cackled in delight and turned to face her Lord. He was smiling coldly at her, his hand barely outstretched. She walked over to him, and placed the book in his hand. His spidery fingers closed around it, and he stared at it for a moment before turning his red gaze to the struggling woman on the floor.

"Dispose of her."

Bellatrix smiled, and destroyed what was left of Halinor Clarkson.

o.O.o.O.o

Cornelia Hale looked up from the flowers she was tending on her terrace as her little sister Lilian screamed, running at an almost inhuman speed out of Cornelia's own bedroom. She ran down the stairs, still screaming, until she reached her older sister.

"There's a vulture in your room!" she squealed. Cornelia paled a little at this, but kept a disapproving look on her face.

"And just what were you doing in my room?" she asked, and Lilian made a face.

"I was looking for Napoleon... and I found him! He's trying to kill a vulture in your room!" she said, growing more agitated by the second. Sure enough, the sounds of her beloved cat hissing could be heard coming down the stairs, and Cornelia then bolted through the door, up the stairs and into her room. It was not, in fact, a vulture, but a large black barn owl. It soared around Cornelia's ceiling, trying to escape Napoleon who was swatting at it from her vanity (and knocking her makeup all over the table in the process). She marched over to the cat, picked him up and handed him to Lilian.

"Take him and keep him in you room while I try to get this... thing out of my room," she ordered. Lilian lugged the squirming cat outside and Cornelia closed the door behind her. No sense in letting the bird fly all around the house. To her surprise, when she turned to face the thing it was perched quietly on one of her bedposts. Clutched in its beak was a letter. Approaching it cautiously, she held out her hand and the bird dropped the letter into her hand. Eyeing it suspiciously, she turned to look at the letter in her hand. It was addressed to her, but in a most peculiar way.

_Miss Cornelia Hale_

_The Tidiest Bedroom_

_Posh Flat Complex_

_Heatherfield_

She turned the letter over, and found instead of a return address, a crest. It featured four animals grouped around a capital H. Opening it carefully, she pulled out two thick pieces of parchment. They were both written in emerald green ink, and Cornelia focused on the first page.

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorceror, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards)

_Dear Miss Hale,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31._

_Yours Sincerely._

_Minerva McGonagall,_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Cornelia's brain went into overdrive. Did someone know her secret? Did the other girls get similar letters? Would they have to ask the Oracle to wipe someone's memory  _again?_  She quickly looked at the second page. It held a list of curious, strange items that she assumed was the supply list.

_Students will need:_

_\- 3 sets of plain work robes (black)_

_\- 1 set of dress robes_

_\- 1 plain pointed hat (black)_

_\- 1 pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

_\- 1 winter coat (black, silver fastenings)_

_\- 1 wand_

_\- 1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

_\- 1 telescope_

_\- 1 set brass scales_

_Books:_

_\- The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 6) by Miranda Goshawk_

_\- A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot_

_\- Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_

_\- Intermediate Transfiguration by Emeric Switch_

_\- One Thousand Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore_

_\- Advanced Potions Making by Libatius Borage_

_\- Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander_

_\- Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard_

_\- Confronting the Faceless_

_\- Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky (if attending Divination)_

_\- Numerology and Grammatica (if attending Arithmancy)_

_\- The Monster Book of Monsters (if attending Care of Magical Creatures)_

_Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad._

If this was a joke, Cornelia gave props to the creator. It was very detailed, and that frightened her. It couldn't, perhaps, be real? She must have been in a daze, for suddenly the paper was ripped from her hands by her little sister.

"What's this? Ooh, a magic school! Corny, you didn't tell me you were magic! I wanna go too!" the little girl said, while Cornelia chased her around the room.

"Give it back! It's probably Irma's way of pranking me or something. Lilian, it's not real! Give it back!" she yelped, and finally tackled her sister onto her bed. Ripping the parchment from Lilian's hands, Cornelia got up and pulled out her mobile phone. She dialed Will.

"Corny? What's up?" Will answered, and Cornelia didn't fail to notice the waver in her voice.

"Did any barn owls drop off the mail by your place today?" she asked, while shooing Lilian out of her room. Lilian refused to budge, and was staring intently at the owl still perched on the bedpost. It had a rather bored look on its face, as if it had received this reaction plenty of times before.

"Uhh.. actually it was a screech owl... but the mail did come in a weird way today. Mom doesn't know about it yet, but I'm figuring that when she comes home from picking up William and hears..." she was interrupted by a loud screech.

"That," Will continued "then I'm sure I'll have some explaining to do." Cornelia sighed into the phone.

"Same here. But so... do you think it's a joke?" she continued, and was suddenly interrupted by a beeping noise. Taranee was trying to call. "Hold on, other line" she said, and pushed the middle button.

"Cornelia! There's a huge... owl in my room!" Taranee frantically whispered into the phone. "Peter's the only one here, but mom is going to be home any minute!"

"Just calm down; just get the stupid bird out and let's meet up with the others at the Golden in a few. I have a feathered companion sitting on my bedpost as we speak. And yes, he brought me a weird letter, before you ask." Taranee choked in a breath on the other end, and Cornelia sighed again.

"O...ok, I'll meet you there," Taranee finally managed to choke out, and hung up.

"Will? I told Taranee to meet us and the others at the Golden in a few minutes. Let's get the birds out of our rooms and get over there with these letters, ok?" the blond said, while throwing her keys and the letter into her pocket and grabbing her jacket.

"You and I think alike. I just told Irma and Hay Lin the exact same thing!" Will stated, and Cornelia could feel her friend smiling through the phone. They hung up, and Cornelia turned to look at the owl.

"Erm..." she began. It looked at her, expectant. Lilian observed the scene from the door. "Could... could you please, err... wait outside? On a tree branch or something?" she asked it, feeling silly. Surprisingly enough (yet not really... plenty of weirder things had happened to her before), the owl took flight out her open window into the summer heat. She watched as it settled in a tree right across from her complex. Shaking her head, she ran out of her room and straight downstairs. Her mother was coming in the door that very moment, and so Cornelia smiled and waved before attempting to escape unnoticed.

"Now just a minute! Where are you going, young lady?"

Cringing, Cornelia turned to her mom. "Out to see the girls. I don't have to watch Lilian anymore, you're back! So... bye!" she said as convincingly as possible, while giving Lilian a warning look that clearly stated 'if you speak of the owl incident, you are SO getting it.'

Her mother sighed (much like Cornelia had been doing for the past few minutes). With that, the blond Guardian bolted for the elevator.

o.O.o.O.o

Irma Lair was never one to freak out. Ok, well, maybe if there was a gigantic cockroach on her floor, or maybe if she had back talked a teacher and knew she had gone too far. But usually, Irma was pretty chill. Nothing much phased her, and she tried to keep it that way. However, giant white owls swooping into her room through her window and dropping a letter on her floor could be considered a great time to let out a holler. It was due to this incident that she and her four best friends were now grouped at their usual booth in the Golden, a local diner that the girls had been using as a meeting place for many important discussions. Sipping on her milkshake, Irma listened carefully to Will's account of her own, very similar owl incident.

"And it just swooped out and perched right above my window. Then I ran 'cause mom and William came home, and I didn't have time for babysitting duty," the redhead finished. The five Guardians had been through some odd situations, but this one was getting progressively odder.

"It seems that we all got these letters, and they were all delivered by owls, and they all seem... well, authentic if you ask me," Taranee put in, a crease furrowing her dark brow as she stared at her own letter. Hay Lin nodded, and twirled a bit of her glossy hair in between her fingers.

"I think it's real. The Oracle would be able to confirm it, and I'd kinda like to take a trip to Kandrakar and ask more about it all but... at the same time, I don't want to go bothering grandma about this if I don't have to. She has a lot on her mind, trying to track down all those magical kiddos for us," she spoke, and all the Guardians nodded in agreement.

"So what do we do about this, girls?" Cornelia asked, placing her clasped hands on the table. Irma shrugged.

"I say we go. Sounds like a way cooler school than ours. Plus, we could learn some new tricks for our magic," she stated, sneaking a french fry from Will's tray. Hay Lin nodded again.

"I agree. I say we send out replies to this place, via owl I'm guessing, and ask them how the heck we can get there, where to buy supplies and all that stuff." Irma grinned. Hay Lin was her best friend for a reason. Taranee looked skeptical, but after a while also nodded.

"It would be nice to get away, study abroad... and not have to hide our magic. In fact, we'd be improving it! It's so hard to control even now, even with the roots of our powers helping somewhat... I think this school could really benefit us," she finished. Irma's grin widened. She had though Taranee would have been the most difficult to convince that Hogwarts was a good idea, but she was pleasantly surprised to find the Fire Guardian on her side. Cornelia and Will didn't look too convinced, however.

"What about the kids? Who will teach them while we're gone?" Will asked, obviously thinking of her little brother William.

"There are plenty of older magicals who can keep an eye on them until we get back for the summer. They just need to wait for their own Hogwarts letter, I'm guessing, then we won't have to teach anymore. Being a teacher is tiring," Irma stated. Will looked more relaxed at this, but Cornelia still had a sour look on her face. Irma mentally facepalmed. 'Of course, Miss Lovey-Dovey Hale won't want to leave because of Peter. Crap.'

"I don't think we should split up from our families and, er..." she began, but Irma cut her off.

"Corny, honey, think about it: a whole YEAR without Lilian! And if you honestly start to miss her, which I wouldn't understand, you could come back for the Christmas holidays or something. And you and Peter are on the rocks anyway, don't give me that look, so some time apart might do you good! Come on, Corny. Hogwarts sounds awesome! You know you want to go." Cornelia bit her lip, and after a moment or two's hesitation, she nodded. Irma fist pumped, and pulled out a pen.

"Hey, Hay Lin, do you have any paper? I'm writing this reply now, before any of you guys chicken out on me."

o.O.o.O.o

The morning after sending their respective replies (and questions) back with the owls, Will awoke to a tapping on her window. She groaned in frustration as she shuffled over to the latch, undid it, and had to bite back a scream as another owl flew in. It dropped another piece of parchment on her bed, and this time it flew off without a backward glance. Groggily, she picked up the parchment and read it.

_Dear Miss Vandom,_

_I am very pleased you and your friends have accepted attending Hogwarts. However, all five of you are a very interesting case, for the usual age for first years at the school is eleven. You and your friends range from fifth to sixth year (seventh being the final year). Thus I have employed a very reliable, and if I do say so myself, pleasant guide to help you with your purchases and traveling to Hogwarts. Please be in Heatherfield Park on August 28th with all of your belongings that you wish to bring with you. Your guide will arrive and take you to Diagon Alley for you to purchase your supplies. Enclosed is a key to your Vault at the Gringotts Bank, set up by myself and other sources. There should be plenty in there for your purchases. I have also taken the liberty to create a "cover" of sorts for you to present to your family, in explanation of your absence. I look forward to meeting you at the Welcoming Feast!_

_Signed_

_Albus Dumbledore_

_Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, etc._

With the letter also fell out a small, intricate golden key, as well as what looked like a packet for an International Gifted Students School that only hand picked the most select of students based on their abilities, and in Will's case, it specified on swimmers, with all expenses paid. Will, stunned, sat down on her bed softly. It was still surreal to her that such a place really existed. For some reason, that letter from Albus Dumbledore seemed to reassure her and dismiss all of her suspicions. This place could be somewhere she could get away from all those fears and uncertainties she felt while in Heatherfield; it could help distance her from Matt...

She stood up determinedly, and whirled around to look at the calendar. Grabbing a black marker, she circled August 28 and crossed out the current day, which was July 31. About a month from now, and she and her friends would be starting a new adventure she knew was going to be life altering.

o.O.o.O.o

The five Guardians crossed out the days on their respective calendars avidly, in anticipation of August 28th. They packed their suitcases and would occasionally unpack and then repack, just to find something to do. They would call each other constantly during these packing sessions, worrying about what to bring and what to leave behind, giving each other travel advice, and simply daydreaming about Hogwarts.

Finally, the day arrived. The girls said long goodbyes to their parents, who at first insisted upon driving them to the airport, but the girls brushed them off, telling them that they would take a taxi. Their parents, after some prodding and begging, agreed. They were all extremely proud of their daughters; living away from home for a year was a very big step in their lives, and to be accepted into such a prestigious school was quite an accomplishment. The Guardians therefore met in Heatherfield Park, lugging their respective suitcases to a park bench.

"Oof, I hope I don't have to carry these much longer!" Cornelia groaned, setting her two large pink suitcases and Napoleon's cage down on the bench. Irma snickered.

"And how many cosmetics are stashed in that bag, Corny? No wonder you're having a hard time!" she jibed, earning a glare from her blond friend.

"I'm just hoping that whoever comes to get us gets here soon! It's boiling hot today!" Will mumbled. Suddenly, a loud POP sounded out from directly in front of them, and all five girls let out little yelps as a young woman with bright green hair materialized out of thin air.

"Hey girls! You must be WITCH! Am I right?" she asked, her voice friendly and distinctly pleasant as she looked them over. They nodded their heads in sync.

"How did you..." Taranee managed, but this eccentric woman cut her off.

"Apparition, of course! You learn how your sixth year at Hogwarts! I'm Tonks, by the way. Are you ready to go?" she asked, surveying their pile of luggage and raising an eyebrow.

"Godric, that's a lot of stuff. I'll have to shrink it. Hold on, girls," she said, and then pulled a wand out of her waistband (she was wearing a purple robe over jeans and a white shirt). With a flick and a murmur, Tonks had reduced each bag into pocket size luggage. The girls gaped.

"I need to learn how to do that," Cornelia whispered.

"Ok, now get your stuff! The portkey will be leaving soon, we can't miss it!" she said.

"What's a portkey?" Hay Lin asked as she pocketed her bags, still a bit in awe of this awesome woman who stood before her.

"It's an object that can transport the person holding it to another location, so long as you have a finger or so on it by the appointed time. Ours should be... there!" she said, and pointed to an old, deflated soccer ball.

"That?" Cornelia had managed to find her voice again, holding on to Napoleon's cage as they made their way over to the ball. Tonks smiled and nodded.

"It'll take us straight to the Leaky Cauldron, and then we can go shopping for your stuff down Diagon Alley," the witch said. 'Shopping' was all Cornelia needed to hear, and she took hold of a bit of the soccer ball gingerly.

The rest of the girls followed suit, and heard Tonks murmur '3...2...1!' and they were jerked off the ground, as if something was tugging behind their navel, pulling them who knows where. They twisted and turned a few more seconds, before landing (Irma comically on top of Cornelia) in the middle of a dank old pub.

"Are we in London?" Taranee gasped as she picked herself up and adjusted her glasses.

"Muggle London, yes," Tonks stated, and continued explaining before Taranee could open her mouth again. "A muggle is a non-magic person. The Leaky Cauldron is a place where magic folk can go to access Diagon Alley... or a pint if they wanted one!" she finished.

Tonks then ushered the girls upstairs with a wave to the barman, who nodded and shouted 'Rooms 11 and 12!' which Tonks acknowledged with another wave. Will, Cornelia, and Taranee dropped their stuff off in one room, while Hay Lin and Irma shared the one across from it. Tonks excitedly pushed them back down the stairs.

"Let's go! We need all day to shop!" she exclaimed. "Plus, I want you to meet some friends of mine. And who knows how many cute boys you'll get to see! I love shopping trips!" she said, reminding Irma of a kid at Christmas.

"Cute boys? I'm all for it! Direct me to the boys, Tonks!" she joked. Tonks grinned and opened the back door, leading them out into a smallish courtyard. They were facing a brick wall.

"Umm... Tonks?" Will began, but Tonks shushed her, and began tapping certain bricks with her wand. Before the girls had time to gasp, the wall started to unfold before them, revealing the most spectacular sight they had ever seen.

"Boys this way, Irma. Welcome to Diagon Alley!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter One: Complete!
> 
> Hopefully you guys enjoyed; please forgive any mistakes in grammar etc. as I am my own Beta for now.
> 
> Yes, a few minor changes will be occurring throughout this fic. It follows the canon plotline of HBP pretty much to the letter, with the added component of the Guardians and what they bring to the tale. Eventually we will deviate more as major events occur... For a start, Tonks is seen as being her normal self for now, but soon she and Lupin will get their respective missions and her 'depressive' state will become apparent. Also, if you have only seen the cartoon for WITCH, and are confused by some references I made (like Will's brother William, Yan Lin as the Oracle, or their magical teaching jobs) then I suggest you go to Wikipedia and read the articles on the comic series. That's how this story is mostly going to be written.
> 
> Review and let me know what you think!


	2. Diagon Alley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shopping, encounters with familiar faces, and more...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of Nov. 2017, I have gone through this fic and touched up some plot points that bothered me, as well as attempting to fix any errors I can find in general. Refurbished to the best of my ability, here is the new and improved story, which I hope to continue to completion.
> 
> Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling; W.I.T.C.H. was created by Elisabetta Gnone. I do not own either of these works, I'm just having some fun in their worlds for a while.
> 
> Author's Note at the end may answer some of your questions, but for now, enjoy!

The looks on the five WITCH girls' faces must have been something, for Tonks giggled and waved her hand in front of their faces.

"If you want to hit he shops, we need to get going!" she laughed, and Irma was the first one to shake herself out of her stupor.

"Ok, let's go! This place is amazing!" she yelped, and grabbed Hay Lin by the arm and dragged her after Tonks. The others followed, completely gobsmacked at the crazy things they were seeing. There were so many colorful displays and interesting shops, the girls didn't know which ones they wanted to visit first.

"I'll give you lot a fair disclaimer, the atmosphere around here is normally much more cheery. There's been a few unpleasant incidents going on, and so the Wizarding community is a bit frightened... Ah, well, I'll explain more later." Tonks said this in a low voice as they began trekking down the cobbled street, and in fact, the girls were able to see that all the shoppers who were out and about seemed to be intently focused on their tasks, not stopping to chat or peruse storefront windows. The girls' excitement was not dampened, however, although their curiosity piqued.

"We have to stop off at Gringotts first, because you have to get some wizard money if you want to buy anything," Tonks said, and the girls let her lead them to a crooked white building that was held up with columns. Once inside, Taranee and Cornelia gasped. Behind the desks, working as if it were a normal bank, were some of the strangest, ugliest creatures they had ever seen.

"Goblins," whispered Tonks. "Not very friendly types."

"Really? They look so social," Irma joked. They approached a desk, and Tonks spoke up.

"These five girls wish to access their vaults; all five wish to make withdrawals," she said firmly, which contrasted a bit comically with the bright lime green of her hair. The goblin peered over his desk.

"Do these ladies have their keys?" it asked in a gravelly voice. They scrambled around in their pockets and held up five golden keys. The goblin nodded his head and called for another goblin named Grishnok.

"Follow me please," the new goblin, Grishnok, said, and Tonks grinned.

"I love this part. You might want to hold on to your stomachs," she said, and they followed the goblin into what seemed to be a mine cart.

o.O.o.O.o

A few crazy cart rides later, all five Guardians emerged from the bank holding bags of wizard money, a little windswept. Out of their party, it seemed that only Hay Lin and Tonks had enjoyed the ride.

"Ok, where to first?" their green haired guide asked. Taranee pushed her glasses back up her nose.

"We should just go down the list. First it says robes... Let's get those first," she suggested. The others nodded.

"Well, the best robes are definitely at Madam Malkin's over there," Tonks indicated a friendly looking little shop that showcased eccentric, intricate cloaks in one display and regular black robes in another. They entered the shop, and immediately an kind looking old woman was upon them.

"Hogwarts, dears?" she asked. They all nodded. "How many do you all need?" she continued, while motioning for Hay Lin to stand on a small stool in the middle of the room, where she promptly began measuring her.

"Three each," Will answered, and if the old lady was surprised at the tall order, she didn't show it.

"We also need, er these..." Will continued, showing the woman her list.

"Over there, against the back wall. There's a wide selection of hats and gloves. Cloaks are also back there," she answered, her voice muffled by pins she was keeping between her lips as she measured Hay Lin. The girls made their way over to the back and tried on hats and winter cloaks, feeling silly and elated at the same time. Madam Malkin continued measuring them, jotting down the lengths every once in a while, and when she was finished, she rang up their purchases of hats, gloves, and winter cloaks, which Tonks promptly shrunk for them.

"Come back in about twenty minutes and I'll have your robe orders ready," she said, while making her way to the back to begin making robes.

"It also says here, um, dress robes? What are those?" Cornelia asked, looking at her letter. The old lady smiled but waved her hand dismissively.

"You're able to purchase those here too if you like dears! Luckily for you, though, since you are all girls, all you really need to have is a pretty dress. Dress robes are for formal occasions, like parties or a dance. So unless you need to buy a dress, just wear one you have," she said, and bustled out of sight, Cornelia's eyes gleaming.

"A dress! I have plenty of those packed. I can't wait to wear one!" she said, while the others snickered as they made their way out of the shop.

"Where to next?" Hay Lin asked.

"Ollivander's for wands," Tonks said, pointing toward a shop that looked as if it was the oldest on the street, the paint peeling and the display of a single wand on a purple cushion extremely dusty. Pushing open the door, Tonks ushered them in. They were the only ones in the shop, or so they thought.

"Ah, Nymphadora. Lovely to see you. Beech, dragon heartstring, 13 inches was it?" a soft voice rang out, Tonks cringing at the sound of her name. A man with silvery hair was standing before them, his pale eyes glistening eerily in the shop.

"And these lovely young girls are?" he asked, staring at each of them in turn. Irma boldly stepped forward first.

"Irma Lair, sir," she introduced herself, extending her hand. The old man took it, looking rather amused.

"Bold, bubbly, and brazen; I think i know just the wand for you," he whispered, and turned to browse through the millions of thin boxes stacking every inch of his shelves. He finally pulled one out, a very thin sheen of dust coating it. He opened the box, pulled out the wand it encased, and handed it to Irma. She looked at it for a moment before waving it dramatically. Nothing happened.

"Perhaps not," the man mumbled, taking the wand back to its place. "However... It might be worth a try..." he said, and ventured further back into the shop, emerging with an even dustier box. This time, the wand reacted when Irma waved it, if rather violently. Flames shot out of the tip and singed the old man's hair. She gingerly put the wand down.

"I'm more of a water person, if you catch my drift," she joked, while the others glared at her meaningfully. But Mr. Ollivander seemed to take that as a sign, and gasped.

"Ah! I have the perfect wand!" he said in his quiet voice, while scuttling back towards the end of the shop again. This time, he emerged with not only one wand, but three others.

"I have a feeling that these will be perfect for you all," he said, a knowing glint in his eye. He handed Irma one of the three wands, and the moment she waved it, water burst from the tip.

"A lovely  _Aguamenti_  charm, well done Miss Lair. This particular wand is made from willow, unicorn tail hair, and is 13 inches. Particularly springy, good for most charms and defensive spells. Next, please," he said, indicating Taranee.

"And you are..." he prompted.

"Taranee Cook," she said, extending her hand with more reluctance.

"Shy, yet I can see a certain spark for knowledge in those eyes. Try this one," he said, placing the previous wand that Irma had discarded into Taranee's hand. She gave it a timid wave, and flames burst forth in a perfect swirl.

"As I thought. Walnut, dragon heartstring, 12 inches, rigid. Perfect for casting accurate spells. Next," he said, indicating Hay Lin, who was standing closest. He handed her one of the other wands he had brought from the depths of the shop, whose boxes were surprisingly dusty. She waved it, and it shot out of her hand and landed on the ground.

"Definitely not. This one should do it," he said, and handed her the other one. She waved it, and a gentle breeze fluttered across the shop, making both Hay Lin and Ollivander sigh contentedly. "Cherry, dragon heartstring, 11 and a quarter inches, swishy. Nice wand for charm work. And that leaves you, Miss..."

"Hale, Cornelia Hale," the blond Guardian answered for him. He handed her the remaining wand, the one that had fallen on the ground when Hay Lin had tried it. She waved it, and roses burst into existence from the tip.

"Lovely  _Orchideous_  charm, miss Hale. Rosewood, unicorn tail hair, 12 and a half inches, pliable. Excellent for transfiguration," he said, and Cornelia looked down at her wand happily.

"Sir, what about me?" Will spoke up. Ollivander turned his eery gaze upon the redhead.

"You are?" he asked quietly.

"Will Vandom," she answered, twisting a lock of hair between her fingers out of nervous habit. He looked her over curtly.

"The heart of the group, hm?" he murmured, and turned to go to the back once more. Will felt her skin erupt in goosebumps at his word choice, but swallowed thickly and said nothing. He emerged again holding the dustiest box of them all. Wordlessly, Will grabbed the wand and waved it. It felt like an extension of herself, and suddenly the room was aglow with a pinkish light as if the Heart of Kandrakar had emerged from her palm, but instead it was the tip of her wand emitting this warm glow. Ollivander nodded, a bit in awe.

"Holly, Phoenix feather, 13 and a half inches. Rather supple. Miss Vandom, this wand is a very powerful one," he began, seriousness etched in his voice. "The wand chooses the wizard or witch, you see, and each of these wands were among the first few I made. I was ambitious, I admit, and made these wands out of combinations I knew would make them extremely powerful. I have never managed to sell one, until now. Take good care of them..." he finished. The girls nodded, paid for their wands, and left the shop.

"That was... extremely interesting," Tonks commented after they stood there in silence for a short while. No one spoke, as they simply stared at the boxes that held their respective wands for a while. Tonks smiled knowingly, but pressed on.

"Where do we go next?" she prompted, and Taranee pulled out her letter.

"Cauldrons, scales, and telescopes. Then books," she said, while Tonks immediately steered them to Potage's Cauldron Shop. They each bought a small cauldron and a set of brass scales and added them to their pockets once Tonks had shrunken them. Next, they went to Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment to purchase telescopes. They also stopped by Scribbulus Writing Instruments and bought a variety of notebooks, quills, and ink bottles. Tonks also suggested they stock up on Potions ingredients, and directed them to Slug and Jiggers Apothecary, where she helped them purchase what they needed based on her own knowledge of what potions she covered while at Hogwarts. Feeling rather squeamish, the girls exited the shop and headed over to Flourish and Blotts to purchase a multitude of books.

"Once we get these, we'll go have some fun!" Tonks said, and the girls were quite looking forward to it.

o.O.o.O.o

The streets were beginning to become progressively more crowded with shoppers trying to quickly get in and out as Cornelia and her friends made their was to the bookstore, Flourish and Blotts, and she had to push a short woman a tad to get to the front door. Inside the shop, towering and organized in absolutely no way Cornelia figured was organized, were books upon billions of books. Taranee's jaw dropped, and Irma wrinkled her nose. Cornelia looked mildly interested, and was itching to get her hands on some of the books she needed. She wanted to be prepared for whatever she was to face while at Hogwarts, and if reading ahead was the best way to do it, she would.

"What books do you need, girls?" a middle aged man asked them, and Cornelia was jerked back to reality as she noticed that they had made their way up the line to the front desk. She handed him her list, and he squinted at it.

"Blimey, this isn't the typical Hogwarts book list. You've got books from all over the place on this here order... Well.. You'll be payin' me more, so I'm not complaining. What are ya, transfer students?" he asked, and then began summoning five copies of each book on the list from the many shelves with his wand, each one landing in five piles in front of the girls.

"I guess you could say that," Cornelia conceded, her eyes bugging out of her head as he finished summoning the books. As they were not sure which electives would appeal to them until they met with their professors, they decided to purchase all of the books on the list just in case. In the end, she had a whopping twelve textbooks, each a fairly large one at that, sitting in front of her. How the heck was she going to carry all those around at school? Tonks whistled while they paid the man.

"I'll shrink them over there in that corner; wouldn't want to accidentally shrink the wrong books and get them mixed up or anything..." she muttered, and motioned for Irma to follow her with a teetering pile of about seven books (Tonks was carrying the rest). The others began shuffling their piles towards the sides, trying to get out of the way of the other customers. Soon Tonks returned and helped Hay Lin carry her books to the shrinking point, and then Will and Taranee. Finally, Cornelia managed to heft eight of the books into her arms and follow Tonks. The only problem was she couldn't see where she was going. The books teetering ominously, she failed to notice the boy standing right in front of her perusing a potions manual.

"Oomph!" Cornelia cried out as she whacked into him, her many books tumbling out of her hands and onto the floor, where she soon joined them. The boy had not escaped unscathed either. He tumbled over onto the floor as well, eyeing Cornelia with an annoyed look on his face.

"Having trouble there?" he asked, while picking himself up and searching for his book among the wreckage. Bristling, Cornelia attempted to lift herself gracefully off the ground, but was impeded by the many books sprawled across the floor.

"I was doing just fine! If you weren't standing there in the way, I would have managed," she retorted. The boy rolled his greenish eyes, and held out his hand. She took it reluctantly, books falling off of her as she was pulled up. She managed to get a better look at him; he had chestnut brown hair and had sharp, yet handsome features. He was wearing a comfortable looking grey sweater and black slacks; very well dressed, Cornelia noted. She began to pick up the many books she had dropped, and he stooped to help her. She looked at him.

"Thank you," she spoke softly, an embarrassing pinkish tint coming to her cheeks. He looked up, nodded, and straightened himself up once he had picked up about half her books. She set out with the boy following her to find Tonks, who was tapping her foot impatiently.

"I was wondering what kept you. Here, set those down and we'll be off," she said, and Cornelia and the boy placed the pile of books down on the cleared floor as Tonks shrunk them. Cornelia looked at the boy once more, who gave her a small nod, and walked off. Irma was immediately upon her.

"Of course, blondie has to meet a cute guy before I do. Come on, spill!" she teased, but Cornelia ignored her and stowed her mini-books in her purse, grateful that she had thought to bring it. They left the shop with pockets that were beginning to bulge. They stopped off at Madam Malkin's again to fetch their robes, and then set out again down the magical alley.

"And now, let's get to the fun stuff. You're going to love this!" Tonks said, pointing them towards one of the busiest shops, if not the most ridiculous, along the entirety of Diagon Alley.

o.O.o.O.o

Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was, in short, fantastic. Irma felt like she and this shop were made for one another. Perusing the immense supply of joke products was absolutely thrilling, if only she could get to look at one for longer than two seconds. The place was so packed with people (mostly young people) that Irma had barely a chance to focus on one thing or another.

"I guess this must be what it feels like to be inside an ADD person's brain..." she commented, earning giggles from Will and Hay Lin.

"I will take that as a compliment, pretty lady," a cheerful voice spoke from behind her. She turned to face a boy, who looked about three years older than her, with a mop of flaming red hair. He wore a crazy pinstriped suit and was grinning at her, his blue eyes twinkling. All in all, Irma thought he was pretty hot.

"And you are?" she asked, putting on her fake airs immediately. "I'm not sure that a lady such as myself should be associating with someone so... eccentric," she gasped out with dramatic flair. He played along, seeming appreciative.

"Sir George Weasley, co founder of this magnificent, eccentric establishment," he said, bowing and then kissing her hand. Butterflies tickled her stomach, but she continued with her act.

"A Sir! Well, then, by all means, escort me through this enchanting shop of yours," she said. "If you do a good job, you might be rewarded," she added, winking and linking her arm in his.

"I like the sound of than, milady," he played along, and ushered her through the crowd. "First stop, to meet my charming other half, though not as good looking as myself," he said. The redhead they approached, identical to George in most every way visible, must have heard them, for he turned and grinned at George.

"He wishes. Fred Weasley, at your service ma'am," he spoke, and also kissed her hand eccentrically. It might have been a figment of her imagination, but she thought she felt George tense beside her. Looking up, she noticed the remnants of a glower on his face, and Irma swelled with a weird feeling inside.

"Fred, George, leave the poor dear alone! And for goodness sakes, Ron, stop that!" a motherly voice called out, and Fred immediately stood to attention.

"Sir yes sir! I mean, mum," he said, and Irma noted a short, red-haired woman glaring at the two boys who must have been her sons. Another redheaded boy, a long and lanky one with shaggier hair approached, putting down what seemed to be a ton-tongue toffee.

"Mum, if I'm not allowed to touch stuff then why did we come here?" he whined, and his mother rolled her eyes.

"To see how Fred and George are doing, of course! Go find Harry, we need to be off soon," she said, and turned once again to the twins. "Boys, you really mustn't accost poor girls like this... It's quite rude!" she said, while untangling George and Irma's arms from one another. George pouted, and Fred seized this opportunity to grab Irma's arm while his mother's back was turned.

"What, you mean like this?" Fred cackled, and his mother sighed in frustration.

"You boys will be the death of me!" she moaned, and Irma smiled while politely disentangled herself from Fred. She noticed George looking a bit upset, and she was sure Fred didn't miss it either. He immediately sobered up, and apologized to his mother while going off towards the  _WonderWitch_  section. George waved off his mum and pulled Irma back into his comfortable arm, and they followed Fred towards the shocking pink displays.

"It's none of your business! I'm allowed to date whomever I want!" a fiery redheaded girl, who Irma guessed was the sister of the redheaded boys, was glaring at Fred menacingly. Fred cackled.

"Well, you might want to shoot a little higher than Dean Thomas, Ginny," he sniggered, and George chuckled lightly next to her.

"Dean is a very nice boy, don't be rude, Fred!" Ginny's friend, a girl with somewhat bushy brown hair, spoke up, also glaring at Fred.

"Aw, Hermione, don't be mad. I'll only stop teasing because you told me to... I can't have my favorite bookworm upset!" he replied, his voice taking on a more playful tone as he winked at her. The girl called Hermione flushed, but turned on her heel with Ginny and walked over to a gaggle of other red headed people... including Will and the rest of Irma's friends!

"Hey! That's my posse!" Irma exclaimed, and started to pull George towards them, with Fred following right behind them.

"It's ours too! Seems like fate will keep us together after all," George joked, and Irma giggled as she reached the group. Cornelia raised and eyebrow when she saw Irma and George's arms, but a challenging glare from the Water Guardian kept her quiet.

"And there's Irma!" Tonks began, and Irma's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. Tonks' hair was now a shocking fire truck red, almost matching the family surrounding her.

"Will, you must feel right at home with all these gingers!" Irma snarked, earning a collective chuckle from the group at large as Will herself rolled her eyes. Tonks, whose hair change had yet to be explained, laughed loudly.

"I explained to the others already, but you missed it; I'm a Metamorphmagus. I can change my appearance at will!" she said.

"That explains that crazy shade of green," Irma mumbled, but Tonks beamed at her.

"These are my friends, the Weasleys. And some others. Arthur and Molly, and their kids Ron, Ginny, and I guess you've met Fred and George," she stated, pointing out each person in turn. "And this is Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter, some other close friends of ours," she continued, pointing out the brown haired girl from before and a boy with startling green eyes, round glasses, and a mop of untidy black hair. He also sported a curious scar in the shape of a lightning bolt, half hidden by his bangs, on his forehead. Irma nodded in greeting to each of them.

"And lastly, but not least, is Remus Lupin, a dear friend of us all," Tonks said, indicating a tired looking man with mousy brown hair, with a twinge of fondness in her voice.

"Well, now that we're all introduced, how about we go for an ice cream at Fortescue's?" Arthur Weasley told the crowd. Irma perked up.

"Magical ice cream? I'm all for it!" she said, and George let go of her arm.

"I have to stay and man the shop with Fred... I'll see you soon, milady?" he said, a small longing in his eyes. Irma smiled kindly at him.

"I'll bring you a popsicle or something in a few minutes, ok?" she said, and George beamed at her.

o.O.o.O.o

On the way out of the joke shop, Will ran smack into someone she could have sworn wasn't there two seconds before.

"Hey! Watch where you're... oh. Sorry."

It was a boy, a tall, pale blond boy dressed in all black. His grey eyes regarded her for a moment, before he turned and followed a blond woman who must have been his mother down a street called Knockturn Alley.

"Whoa, Malfoy apologized to you? It's the bloody apocalypse!" the boy called Ron stated, his mouth hanging open a bit. Will unnecessarily dusted herself off a bit.

"I have a feeling that he was about to say something rude to me, though. He's not a very nice guy, is he?"' she asked Ron. It was Harry, the boy with the glasses, who answered her.

"No he isn't. And he's going down Knockturn Alley. Ron, Hermione, I think we'd better follow him and see what he's up to," he said quietly. The other two nodded, Hermione a bit reluctantly.

"Can you cover for us? Say we stayed in the shop or something?" Harry asked Will as he and his friends edged towards the dark alley. Will nodded, and turned to follow the group to the ice cream parlor. Mrs. Weasley was upon her in seconds.

"Where are Harry, Ron, and Hermione? Did they go off somewhere?" she asked suspiciously. Will gulped. This woman was sharp.

"No, they stayed at the shop. When I finish my ice cream I said I'd bring them some," she stammered, hoping that her insecurity didn't betray her. Mrs. Weasley seemed to buy it, though, for she let the matter drop. They purchased their ice creams, and Will decided that no other ice cream would ever do this one justice. The flavor she had chosen was Earl Grey & Lavender, and it tasted exactly like a delightful cup of tea with milk. She deliberately ate it slowly, for the sake of Harry, Ron, and Hermione but also just because it was that good.

Finally, she and Irma went back up to the counter and purchased four more ice creams and headed back to the joke shop. Irma went inside and gave one to George, who grinned and smeared it all over his face and then chased Irma around the store while attempting to give her a kiss in thanks. Will chuckled and noted Harry, Ron, and Hermione entering the shop a bit out of breath. Wordlessly they took the ice creams from her hands, muttering their thanks while trying to look nonchalant. They were soon joined by Mrs. Weasley, who rounded up her clan before heading to the back to 'Floo home,' whatever that meant.

"I'll see you at Hogwarts!" Hermione smiled at Will, and followed the Weasleys to the back. For some reason, Will felt that she had made a good group of acquaintances that trip, and couldn't help feeling happy.

"Alright, time to head back to the Leaky! Let's go, I know you are all dying to check out your stuff!" Tonks said, her hair now a mauve color. They followed her back towards the ned of the road, where they were confronted with the familiar brick wall. She tapped it again with her wand, and they emerged into the quaint pub once more. Dashing upstairs with their stuff still miniaturized in their pockets, they were surprised to find new, spacious brown trunks at the foot of their beds. Will's name was on it in gold script (thankfully it didn't say Wilhelmina), and she noticed that the other girls had similar trunks. On the sides of each were the Hogwarts crest.

"Put all your stuff on your beds and I'll make it the right sizes," Tonks said, and the girls emptied their pockets. " _Engorgio_!" she muttered, and with a few flicks of her wand, all their purchases were scattered across their beds.

"Now all you have to do is get them in your trunks! Have fun with that!" Tonks laughed, and the girls groaned. Suddenly a meow from Napoleon caused Tonks to smack her hand against her forehead. "Great Merlin's socks! We forgot to get you pets!" she exclaimed, and Will perked up at this.

"I love animals! Can we go back and get one?" she asked, and Tonks shook her head.

"It's getting dark, I'd prefer if we stayed indoors. We can go back tomorrow, since you'll be staying here until the 1st of September. I suggest you pack your trunks though, you'll want to use those beds," she sighed, and sat down on the floor to play with Napoleon.

Will groaned softly and got to work.

o.O.o.O.o

After about an hour of grueling packing, Hay Lin was finally done. She sat on her new trunk with a groan; getting all her art supplies to fit with everything else was a pain. After they had transferred all of their belongings from their various suitcases into the trunks, Tonks had re-shrunken the bags Hay Lin had barely managed to fit even that in there. But the trunk had latched shut, and now Hay Lin was grateful.

She, Irma and Tonks were going to be sharing a room that night, and after eating a dinner of pea soup and bread (Tonks assured them that the Hogwarts food was light years better) they decided to turn in for the night. Pulling on her pajamas and crawling underneath the covers, Hay Lin undid her long pigtails and began to comb through them with her fingers (her brush was stowed in the trunk, and Hay Lin did not feel like rooting though it only to have to close it again).

"Well, that was fun, girls! I really hope you had fun shopping with me! I never get a chance to shop much anymore... being an Auror is so stressful and busy, it doesn't give me much free time.. especially now..." Tonks sighed, and transfigured a chair into a bed (the room was only meant to hold two).

"Now? What's happening now?" Irma asked, sitting up on her bed. Tonks sank down onto the conjured bed, got comfortable, and began to tell the two Guardians the story of Lord Voldemort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Two: Complete!
> 
> Chapters should all hopefully range within the 4 to 5k words realm. I'm also hopeful this helped fix any plot errors I made previously when writing this, but remember I have no Beta as of now so any grammar mistakes etc. should hopefully be forgiven.
> 
> Please review!


	3. Learning Quidditch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quidditch with the Weasleys, and learning more about the Houses. Are we apprehensive yet?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of Nov. 2017, I have gone through this fic and touched up some plot points that bothered me, as well as attempting to fix any errors I can find in general. Refurbished to the best of my ability, here is the new and improved story, which I hope to continue to completion.
> 
> Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling; W.I.T.C.H. was created by Elisabetta Gnone. I do not own either of these works, I'm just having some fun in their worlds for a while.
> 
> Author's Note at the end may answer some of your questions, but for now, enjoy!

The next morning, Irma and Hay Lin came to breakfast extremely subdued. This would have gone unnoticed by the rest of the Guardians, except Irma hardly ate anything (although cold porridge for breakfast wasn't exactly appetizing) and Irma always managed to eat something.

"Something wrong, girls?" Cornelia asked, tearing herself a bit of bread off of the loaf that had been provided for the table. Irma looked around for Tonks; since she hadn't emerged from their room yet, she began speaking.

"Tonks told us some really intense stuff about the Wizarding world last night," Irma started. The five Guardians unconsciously huddled closer to one another. "Apparently," Irma continued, "some really dark wizard named... well, that's just it! The people of the Wizarding world are so scared of him that they don't even say his name! He caused so much havoc and pain about twenty years ago to the whole magical community that the very mention of his name causes terrible memories to come back to the light... It's almost a reflection of some of the stuff we've been through... Like Meridian..." she trailed off, her eyes glazed over in memory. Hay Lin stepped in.

"Anyway, you know that boy we met yesterday? The one with the green eyes?" she prompted. Cornelia looked up, her heart stuttering, but Hay Lin continued. "He had a scar on his forehead... I forget his name.. started with an H..."

"Harry!" Will and Taranee answered, and Hay Lin nodded.

"He defeated You-Know-Who when he was about a year old. No one knows how, but he managed to deflect the worst curse ever, the Killing Curse, and survived with only a scratch on his forehead. But You-Know-Who came back two years ago, and now the Wizarding world is living in fear... Diagon Alley is normally ten times livelier than it was yesterday. People are worried that this dark wizard will hurt their families, cause more pain like last time... It really reminds one of Phobos, don't you agree?" she finished, and the Guardians all nodded.

"Wow, it must be really bad then. Diagon Alley was pretty busy yesterday... If that was subdued, I'd love to see it in full swing," Cornelia added, taking a bite out of her porridge and grimacing. Irma nodded.

"I can only imagine how bad Harry must feel.. There are also rumors that he is the 'Chosen One' to defeat Voldemort... Oops," she made a face as the horrid name escaped her lips. The rest of the girls sat in silence for a while, not really eating their food but playing with it. Then Will spoke up.

"Well, if we can use our Guardian powers to help out the Wizarding world in any way we can, but without giving up our cover, I think we should try it," she said with a determined look on her face. Her friends had seen that look before. They all nodded in agreement, just as Tonks stumbled down the stairs. Her hair was a bright yellow this morning.

"Good morning girls," she yawned, and immediately shoved a huge piece of bread in her mouth. "Ready to go get your pets?" she asked as she chewed. Irma chuckled.

"Only if you are... and I'm thinking you still need some waking up to do!" she said, and Tonks ignored her, simply shaking her head as if to wake herself up more. The yellow color in her hair seemed to darken in shade to a more natural blonde as she did so.

"Well, it looks like you're all dressed, so we can go in about ten minutes, yeah?" she said, looking at the Guardians with a more aware expression on her face now. They nodded, and got up from the table to head back upstairs for their money. They congregated back downstairs at the brick wall, and once they were all there, Tonks tapped the bricks again, and the wall began to unfold on itself.

Diagon Alley was not the bustling place it was when the girls had visited the previous day. To their horror, broken glass and debris littered the street, and almost no one had made an appearance. Tonks clutched her wand in front of her, and the WITCH girls were glad they had brought their new ones, even if they had no idea how to use them. A figure emerged from Ollivander's, which seemed like it had gotten most of the damage.

"Moody!" Tonks exclaimed, a hitch of relief in her tone. She and the girls hurried over to the strange man with the rolling magical eye and peg leg, expecting to hear the worst.

"They took Ollivander. A horde of bloody Death Eaters attacked him in the middle of the night, he's outright vanished. He Who Must Not Be Named is up to his dark tricks again, and it's gettin' worse!" Moody spat, and the girls gasped.

"But... what would he want with Mr. Ollivander? He wouldn't have harmed a fly!" Hay Lin stammered, and Moody fixed his magical eye on her curiously.

"You're one of those girls Dumbledore's letting into the school late, right?" he asked. Hay Lin nodded, a bit fearfully. "You got a strange aura around you, lass. All five of ya do. Especially..." his eye focused on Will, who shifted uncomfortably. "Dumbledore knows what he's doin. I trust him, and all five of ya seem mighty powerful, so the school will be safe. Hogwarts will be safe enough with you five there," he said gruffly, and Tonks gasped.

"Moody, not accusing someone of dark practices on his first meeting with them? The world really is falling apart!" she joked, and Moody rolled his eye (the magical one doing a complete 360 turn in its socket).

"Well, you had best be off, Tonks. I've got to speak to you later about a new assignment for you, so look for my owl and I'll Floo over when you're done here. Get these girls what they need and get out of here, and quick. Don't hang around, it's unsafe. Constant vigilance!" he barked as he hobbled off towards Gringotts. Tonks rolled her eyes this time.

"He always says that," she muttered, and steered the girls towards Magical Menagerie.

o.O.o.O.o

Will Vandom was one of the happiest pet owners on the planet. Although she missed her door mouse terribly, the cute Oriental Firebellied frog she had purchased and decided to call Saltagilla, in honor of her frog shaped cup at home, was a great addition to her collection. The best thing was that this frog wasn't a stuffed animal! Of course, she wished she could have brought her door mouse along with her to Hogwarts, but that awful accident took him away from her. Matt had been there for her during that terrible time, but she pushed him out of her thoughts. She surveyed her friends, who also seemed to be enjoying their new pets as they trudged along Diagon Alley.

Irma had left the shop with an adorable white kitten, who she had decided to call Kitty Katty (in reminiscence of the white cat she saved a while back). They had left Magical Menagerie to stop by Eyelops Owl Emporium, where Taranne and Hay Lin had purchased owls. Taranee had chosen a Tawny owl and named him Sparky, while Hay Lin had opted for a Barn owl that she named Aeolus (after the Greek god of wind). Will smiled happily at her new pet, who looked up at her and croaked. She had no idea how she was going to explain this to her mom when she got back. They stopped abruptly, and Will looked up to find that they were at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"Tonks, why are we..." Taranee began, holding her large owl's cage with some effort.

"I just want to check on the twins and make sure they're ok," she answered. "I'll send Molly a message later, it will reassure her." Tonks unlatched the door with a flick of her wand and immediately disabled a variety of complex looking spells with what seemed to be incredible effort. She then marched through the unusually quiet shop (which did not lack in decoration despite the lack of noise) and reached the back, where a staircase led upstairs. Taking the stairs two at a time, Tonks dashed up towards what seemed to be a flat above the shop.

"What's the rush?" Irma joked, but handed Cornelia her cat and sprinted up after Tonks. Curious as to what was up there, Will placed her frog in its cage at the foot of the stairs and followed the other two. Reaching the top of the stairs, she found what seemed to be the most untidy flat she had ever come upon in her life. And that was saying something, considering the state her room was usually in. Clothes, potions materials, books, and food were splattered in a higgledy piggledy way across the floor. She noticed Irma and Tonks making their way awkwardly across the sea of unidentifiable objects strewn across the floor.

"Oh, really!" Tonks muttered, slapping herself on the forehead again. "Am I a witch or aren't I?" she muttered, and with a flick of her wand she shifted all the stuff to made a clear path for them to walk through. They reached another door and pushed it open to reveal a sleeping Fred (or was it George?) sprawled across his bed in only boxers. Will felt a huge blush creep towards her cheeks and looked away.

"Wotcher, Fred! Wake up!" Tonks bellowed, and Fred groggily opened his eyelids. Noticing who was staring at him (or trying not to) he yelped and fell off his bed.

"Oi! That's no way to act! Ladies shouldn't barge in on a fellow when he's indecent!" he said, scrambling to pull on a pair of pants. Irma cackled.

"Indecent would mean your birthday suit," she said, and Will let out an involuntary giggle. Fred smirked.

"Well, as much as I know all three of you enjoyed the show, I'd like to be dressed when I hear whatever it is you're here to tell me," he muttered, rooting around for a shirt. Tonks rolled her eyes and left, Irma close behind her. Will stood awkwardly in the doorway for a moment staring at Fred. It had been way too long since she had seen a cute guy shirtless... When Fred looked up at her and grinned, she turned as red as her hair and followed Irma. They had successfully woken up George as well, who emerged in a pair of sweatpants and an undershirt attempting to tackle Irma, who took refuge behind Will.

"My lady! You have returned to me, and so soon! Praise this glorious day!" he shouted, sounding purposefully like a lovesick fool. Irma laughed and ran into the living room pulling Will behind her, where Fred was sitting on the couch with a biscuit. Suddenly Will felt Irma crash into her, and saw a pair of long, freckled arms encircle them both, and she tumbled onto the couch (and on top of Fred) with Irma squishing her.

"You both thought you were safe! Ha! No one escapes the mighty George!" he cackled from somewhere above Will, whose face had now reached a shade of red that rivaled the hair on her head. Fred grinned at her from where he was pinned underneath three other people, and with considerable force pushed George and Irma off of him with his legs. Will instantly tried to shoot up from where she was, but Fred wrapped his arm around her and straightened her up himself.

"Sorry about that... my brother was getting a bit overenthusiastic!" he winked, and Will wished she could have found her voice, but it seemed to be taking a permanent vacation.

"What's going on up here? It sounds like a herd of elephants are tap dancing or something!" Hay Lin said, poking her head through the door along with Cornelia and Taranee. The blond noted Fred's arm still lightly wrapped around Will's waist, however casual, and raised an eyebrow. Tonks, holding her sides from laughing at the antics of the twins, finally managed to catch her breath.

"We were just... waking them up," she gasped. "But seriously! We have important stuff to talk about!" she said, recovering a bit. She sat down in a hideous lime green arm chair and crossed her arms. "Ollivander was taken last night. Did you boys hear or see anything happen?" she asked. George nodded from his perch on the couch's arm.

"Yes, we heard glass breaking and immediately activated the wards on our building. We saw the Death Eaters appear and take him out of his shop... It was bloody awful. We Floo called mum and told her not to worry once we figured they heard about it over at the Burrow, and she nearly had a heart attack."

"And she's inviting us all to dinner the 31st, the night before term starts for you Hogwarts kiddos. And when I say all, I mean you girls too," Fred added. "Mum wouldn't have you eat at the Leaky right before school starts, she'd want your little brains nice and ready for school. Ha! As if we ever needed brain food," he added, and winked at George.

"Nope, we just need food!" his twin replied, and everyone chuckled. Will was extremely conscious of Fred's arm still draped around her waist, and she couldn't help the color rising to her cheeks every time she thought about it.

"Well, that's it then? We'll just pop in for dinner in two days? Sounds good to me," Tonks said as she got up from the chair. "Now all I have to do is think of something fun for us girls to do while we spend two more days in that pub..." she mused aloud, and Cornelia groaned in mention of the pub.

"Get drunk," Fred suggested casually. Tonks glared at him.

"Something not involving alcohol," she said, and Fred and George snickered.

"How about Quidditch? Get them up to speed on the teams and stuff! They probably don't know anything about Quidditch!" George said suddenly, and the Guardians stared at him as if he had grown an extra head.

"Quidditch? Is that a sport or something?" Will asked. "I like sports. What's this one like?" Fred stared at her, but then a glint came in his eye that Will wasn't sure he should fear or not.

"It's the best sport out there! You play on broomsticks," he said, and Will's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "There are three kinds of ball in Quidditch... Oh Merlin, there's so much to explain!" he began, but then looked to George pleadingly. "Let's stop by the Burrow and play a game of Quidditch, don't you think?" he asked, and stood up to head to his room. George nodded and followed suit.

"Now hold on! Shouldn't we tell Molly or something? What about the shop?And we have pets to drop off at the Leaky first..." Tonks began. Taranee nodded her head vigorously.

"I don't know for how much longer I can carry this thing!" she said, holding up her owl cage. Sparky hooted indignantly at her. George shrugged.

"Just leave them here or bring them; there's always plenty of pets out at the Burrow, plus Hermione never plays Quidditch, she can look after them... And no one will be coming to Diagon Alley because of last night's attack," he said, disappearing into his room. Minutes later, the twins emerged wearing jeans and t-shirts, Fred's a dark red long sleeved one and George a short sleeved blue one. The headed over to their fireplace, which Will thought odd.

"Come on, you lot. Let's go play Quidditch!" Fred said, beckoning them towards the fireplace. Will and Cornelia exchanged looks, but walked over there (only because Tonks seemed so comfortable doing it). Fred didn't miss the exchange.

"Don't tell me you've never traveled by Floo powder before? Oh well, you came from the muggle world, it's fine. Just take a pinch of the powder and shout where you want to go very clearly. Watch, Tonks, have a go," he said, handing her a smallish purple sack that was hanging by the fireplace. Tonks took a pinch of the powder inside it, stepped into the fireplace, and yelled "The Burrow!" She was engulfed in green flames and was gone. Taranee yelped in alarm, but George dismissed her fears. "You next; ladies first!" he said, pushing Taranee towards the fireplace. She gulped, took a pinch of the powder, and yelled "The Burrow!" and she too was gone.

The Guardians soon got the hang of it, and Cornelia, Hay Lin, Irma, and Will found themselves whisked away from one fireplace into another. When Will emerged from the fireplace, she gasped. She was now in a smallish looking kitchen that had all the aura of a home that any house could possess. It was cluttered in a cozy sort of way, with a funny clock over the mantlepiece which seemed to have various family members and their locations inscribed upon it. The Burrow, or so it seemed to be called, smelled of freshly baked bread, cut grass, and warm embers of a fire. Will smiled, unable to help herself. Fred popped out from the fireplace next, and Will turned to face him.

"You lived here?" she asked him. He nodded. "It's awesome!" she said, and he turned a faint pink before calling out "Mum!" Mrs. Weasley had descended the stairs in no time, and gasped when she saw her populated living room.

"Goodness! Boys, I told you to come in two days, not two in the afternoon! Hello, dears!" she called to the girls, her tone abruptly changing when she ceased addressing her sons. "What on earth are you here for? Was there another attack?" she asked worriedly, coming down the stairs followed by Ron and Ginny.

"Nah, mum, nothing like that, though we suspect no one will be out shopping today due to last night. We came for a pick up game of Quidditch to teach these girls how to play. Gin, go get Harry and Bill, won't you? And anyone else who wants to play. We'll be outside," George answered, and then steered Irma and the others outside to the Burrow's makeshift Quidditch field. Will's jaw dropped. There were three goal hoops sticking straight up off the ground, so high in the air she couldn't have reached them if she tried. Fred tossed her a broom from the broom shed.

"I'll teach you to fly first, then we'll see which position you'll be best in," he said, handing a broom to Taranee who looked at it skeptically. After a brief explanation of the rules and basic principles of the game, the twins (assisted by Harry, Bill, and Charlie, two other Weasley brothers) instructed them on how to mount and fly a broom. Gulping, Will mounted her broom fearfully. She noticed the other Guardians eyeing their own brooms warily (all except for Hay Lin).

"Now when I say go, we're all going to kick off from the ground and hover for a bit. Sound good?" Charlie asked the group, who nodded. "Alright, then... Go!" he said, and Will kicked off from the ground hard, and was surprised to feel her feet lift off the ground and then continue to rise into the air. She looked over at her friends, who were also wearing shocked expressions on their faces.

"Good! Now let's try flying in circles around the pitch!" Charlie called out, and Will leaned forward a bit and felt her broom accelerate to follow the red head. She was exhilarated, for she continued to speed up as she followed Charlie, the wind whipping her short hair back, and the overall feeling of freedom she felt while up in the air. She laughed out loud and zoomed past Charlie, and almost collided with Fred.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked, as she steadied herself on her broom. Being a Guardian had its perks, but flying wasn't one of them unless Hay Lin helped them out. She had little experience, but it turned out to be somewhat helpful in the end. She smiled at Fred.

"Oh yes!"

o.O.o.O.o

Trudging into the kitchen, muddy and sweaty, Hay Lin felt as though she had only scratched the surface of what Quidditch had to offer. She was never really a sports person, preferring instead to sketch and design clothes, but now that she had discovered one that could be played in the air, her element, she was all for it.

The teams had ended up being like this: She, Will, and Irma were Chasers, while Bill played Keeper, Charlie Seeker, and Fred their only Beater (they were a couple of players short). The opposing team had Tonks, Ginny, and Taranee as Chasers, Harry as Seeker, Ron as Keeper, and George and Cornelia as Beaters. However, the fact that they had a full team did not impede Hay Lin's in the least. Cornelia chose to fly so close to the ground that she barely made any hits to the Bludgers, plus the fact that she could barely lift the Beater's bat added to the advantage. Taranee's ineptitude in catching the Quaffle and George's reluctance to send a Bludger in Irma's direction when he had a clear shot assured their victory. Exhausted yet happy, the Guardians and their new friends trudged back into the Burrow and sat down, sighing almost as one.

"That was fun!" Hay Lin exclaimed finally, earning an appreciative smile from the twins.

"It was our great idea after all," George joked, and Irma smirked.

"Too bad you lost though," she snickered, and George clutched his heart in mock pain.

"You wound me, my lady. Rubbing a prideful man's loss in his face is never the appropriate thing to do," he lamented, and Irma smirked again.

"True, but you're not a man, you're a boy. So I see no problem here." George glared at her playfully as the others cracked up.

"I don't know about you all, but I'm in need of a shower," Cornelia interrupted amongst the laughing.

"Well, I wouldn't trust showering at the Leaky... who knows what kind of creepy crawlies are in those showers" Ron said, shuddering a bit. Fred smirked.

"Yeah, like spiders," he retorted with a wiggle of his eyebrows, and Ron glared at him ferociously.

"Eew, I hate spiders! I can't stand them!" Taranee exclaimed with a similar shudder, and Ron looked at her appreciatively.

"Well, you girls could always shower here if you wanted to," Tonks suggested, standing up to go help Mrs. Weasley with something, and Ginny nodded.

"I'm sure mum is already cooking dinner for everyone anyway. I'll go fetch you some towels," she said, and bounded up the stairs.

"And hand me your laundry, girls, I'll have it washed in no time," Mrs. Weasley called from the kitchen. That woman never missed a trick, Hay Lin thought as she and her friends followed Ginny up the crooked stairs of the Burrow, leaving the boys behind to discuss who know what. Probably us, she thought, and smiled. Cornelia followed the redhead to the showers first, and Ginny pointed to her room.

"Stay in there while you wait your turn, I'll be back in a second," she said, grabbing a towel from her closet and leaving with Cornelia. Hermione was sitting on the windowsill of Ginny's room reading a book (one of their schoolbooks, Hay Lin noticed).

"I saw your game from the window, you were all really good!" she said enthusiastically.

"Er, I wouldn't say that" Taranee muttered. "I'm more of a dancer," she said, and Hermione simply shrugged.

"Well, you and Will played exceptionally well," she said, indicating Hay Lin with a wave of her hand. "You should try out for the Quidditch teams at school when we get there. I'm sure Harry would give you a spot, not that he places favorites on the team, but..."

"Wait, Harry?" Will asked curiously. "What's he got to do with the Quidditch selections?"

"Oh you didn't know, he made Gryffindor Quidditch captain! When he got his Hogwarts supply letter this summer the badge came with it! He's really the best Seeker around, although today Charlie beat him to it..." she trailed off. Hay Lin giggled as she remembered the scene. Harry and Charlie had both seen the Snitch within seconds of each other and dived, resulting in a tumultuous crash. Charlie, being burlier, managed to wrest the Snitch from Harry's hands before they collapsed into laughter.

"Gryffindor? What's that?" Will asked. Hermione stared at them, but then put down her schoolbook and walked over to her trunk.

"Of course you wouldn't know! I feel so rude, not explaining things to you properly... Here, you can borrow this and read it tonight or tomorrow if you want to brush up on things," she said, handing them a rather worn copy of a book called  _Hogwarts, A History_. Taranee took it eagerly, and even Irma seemed interested.

"Gryffindor is one of the four houses in Hogwarts school," Hermione began. "The other three are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. They were named after the four founders of Hogwarts, who took into each house students they felt would succeed when placed under their ideals. For example, Ravenclaw is the house of wit and intelligence, while Gryffindors tend to be brave and full of heart," she continued. "For some reason Slytherins tend to be rather ambitious and... well, I guess they all can't be bad, although it rather seems that way... You-Know-Who was a Slytherin..." she said, pausing for effect. She had the girls' undivided attention.

"I'll bet Corny's a Slytherin," Irma joked, but Hermione frowned at her.

"It wouldn't be a bad thing to be in Slytherin, just... well, the other houses would all be extremely prejudiced towards you, I suppose. House prejudices are common, as unfortunate as it is," she stated, and Ginny entered the room soon after.

"Oh yeah, especially between Slytherins and Gryffindors. All Slytherins are slimeballs if you ask me," Ginny said, earning another look from Hermione.

"I assume you're a Gryffindor then?" Hay Lin asked playfully, and Ginny grinned.

"My whole family's been in Gryffindor. All us Weasley's are Gryffindors," she said proudly. Taranee turned to Hermione.

"What about you? You seem like a Ravenclaw," she said, then quickly flushing a bit. "I mean... you seem really smart, so..." but Hermione beamed at her.

"I was almost put in Ravenclaw, but I got Gryffindor instead. I don't mind one bit, though," she said, the pride for her house clearly showing as well. "Harry's a Gryffindor too," she added. Hay Lin was beginning to feel uncomfortable. What if she and her friends were put into different houses? Would they become prejudiced towards one another?

"But so the only house no one really likes is Slytherin, right?" she asked. Hermione frowned again, appearing perturbed by this statement, but Ginny answered her question.

"Yep. The other houses get along fine. It's always been Slytherin that's been separate," she said darkly.

"Honestly," began Hermione, "Slytherin is a very respectable house. The whole reason this war even started was because of prejudices, so we'd best try to eliminate that way of thinking," she stated. The girls all thought deeply about this, assuming that she was probably right.

"Well, I hope none of us get put into Slytherin just the same!" Hay Lin mumbled, and Ginny let out a small snort.

"You all are much too nice to be Slytherins," she said, just as Cornelia walked in wearing a green bathrobe with her hair wrapped up in a towel.

"Except Corny," Irma snickered. Ginny burst into giggles.

"She's even wearing green!" she gasped, and even Hermione managed a faint smile.

"Oh, and you are wearing Ron's bathrobe, by the way," Ginny gasped out. Cornelia's eyes widened.

"WHAT!" Cornelia yelped, and the room dissolved into more giggle fits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Three: Complete!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this one, it was an attempt to get the girls more indoctrinated into the magical world and prepare them for things such as Quidditch, as well as give them some firmer friendships before Hogwarts.
> 
> Once again... Please leave a comment or two! :)


	4. The Hogwarts Express

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hogwarts Express brings the Guardians closer to their new school, and encountering more familiar faces along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of Nov. 2017, I have gone through this fic and touched up some plot points that bothered me, as well as attempting to fix any errors I can find in general. Refurbished to the best of my ability, here is the new and improved story, which I hope to continue to completion.
> 
> Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling; W.I.T.C.H. was created by Elisabetta Gnone. I do not own either of these works, I'm just having some fun in their worlds for a while.
> 
> Author's Note at the end may answer some of your questions, but for now, enjoy!

After each of the girls had showered and gotten their clothes back from the wash, they proceeded to eat some of the delicious Weasley food for dinner. Mrs. Weasley had indulged them in grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, shepherd's pie, green beans, and cornbread with apple pie with ice cream for dessert. The Guardians dreaded returning to the Leaky Cauldron for dinner the next night. They said their goodbyes and thanked Mrs. Weasley, promising to return hungry the night before school started. They Flooed back to Fred and George's flat to pick up their pets, said goodbyes to the twins (George rather reluctant to see Irma go), and walked back to the Leaky Cauldron for some needed rest.

The next morning was less active for the Guardians, but they perused the copy of  _Hogwarts, A History_  that Hermione had loaned them with vigor, wanting to know as much as they could about Hogwarts before the time came for them to depart. They took turns reading chapters of the book aloud in their rooms. Tonks would interject a few updates here and there when the girls read something, usually a mystery, that had been solved. They noticed that for some reason Harry Potter was usually the cause behind the solution, and the mystique of the boy with the lightning scar grew. After completing their reading about Hogwarts, by far the most interesting of the books they had at their disposal, they perused their schoolbooks in attempt to prepare themselves somewhat for the classes they would be facing. Will and Cornelia were to be in sixth year, so they would be enrolled in some of the N.E.W.T. level courses, according to Tonks. She said she didn't know many of the details, but that the Headmaster would explain things to them the day their classes began.

Finally, the night before they were to leave for Hogwarts approached. The girls prepared for the dinner at the Burrow with the Weasleys in their rooms, growing extremely excited (to see their new friends as well as to get some more of Mrs. Weasley's delicious cooking). Unconsciously, the girls dressed better than they had anticipated, Cornelia even going as far as to wear a skirt. They Flooed over through the Leaky Cauldron's fireplace, and found the Burrow as packed as ever.

"Oi! Watch where you're.. Oh, blimey, Tonks! You scared me for a second!" Ron yelped, hoisting a large pot of soup over his head as they all came in through the fireplace. They laughed and scurried out of his way as he made his way to the dining table.

"Girls! Come give me a hand! Oh goodness, I hope we all fit at the table... Bill, Charlie, can you transfigure the chairs into benches? Ginny! Watch the potatoes!" Mrs. Weasley roared over the chaos.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Will asked fretfully. Mrs. Weasley, looking rather frazzled, indicated the overloaded kitchen counter.

"Just start bringing all those dishes to the table, and put them wherever there's room... Fred! Stop that this instant!" she admonished, for he was creeping up behind Will and was about to grab her. Will turned around, flushed, and picked up a basket of rolls and headed to the table. Fred grinned and followed her with a meat platter.

"Not even a hello? I thought you liked me better than that," he said, setting it down. Will looked at him and somehow found her voice.

"Who said I liked you?" she retorted playfully. Fred's grin widened.

"Touché," he said, and that's when the dinner bell rang. He immediately sat down on one of the benches and pulled Will next to him as the others filed in. Cornelia sat on her other side, and Hermione sat across from her next to Harry. George, obviously, made Irma sit by him, which she didn't seem to mind at all.

" _Beel_? You 'ave not introduced me to the new members of ze Weesley family! Who are zey?" a distinctly French-accented voice was heard from the doorway as more people came to sit down.

"I'm sorry, dear. Girls, this is Fleur. She's my fiancé, we'll be married in July next year," Bill said, introducing a shockingly beautiful woman. She had silky white blond hair and perfect features. Ginny and Hermione rolled their eyes as she gave Bill a theatrical kiss on the cheek before sitting down with a grace that seemed out of this world, and Will could have sworn she felt an animosity coming from Cornelia as everyone else settled in around the table.

"All right, tuck in everyone!" Mrs. Weasley said, and the food was pounced upon.

o.O.o.O.o

Taranee awoke the next morning before any of her friends did, at the crack of dawn. She quietly got up and went over to Sparky's cage to feed him a couple of owl pellets. She then tiptoed over to the window and stood there, silently looking out at foggy London morning. Although it was August, she felt a shiver run down her spine. Today she would be going to Hogwarts. She had read all she could about it in the book Hermione had lent them, but she still felt as if it barely scratched the surface of what the magical school was going to be like.

 _'What house will I be in? Will I pass my classes, or look like a fool? Will W.I.T.C.H. still be the same? What if we have to fight in this war?'_  So many questions circled her brain, making her head hurt.  _'What if I find someone there who cares about me? Someone unlike Nigel or Luke?'_  she thought, and her heart clenched at those memories. She reminded herself that romance would be put after her studies, and she hoped that it would stay that way. She heard someone stir in their bed, and she turned to see a sleepy Cornelia looking at her.

"You ready to go?" the blond asked, yawning softly as she threw her legs over the bed and into her fluffy slippers. Taranee nodded slowly, and then grinned.

"I'm so excited, I feel like puking," she laughed, and Cornelia chuckled. She stood up to survey their room. Clothes and a few books were scattered here and there, and she sighed.

"Let's get Will and the others up, we have a lot of cleaning to do before we can leave," she said, and then proceeded to walk over to Will's bed and shake the redhead. Will didn't budge.

"Desperate times," Cornelia sighed, "call for desperate measures."

Will woke up with a pileup of all four Guardians sitting on her.

o.O.o.O.o

"Oh gosh, girls, we need to hurry!" Tonks exclaimed as they pushed through crowds of people on King's Cross Station. "Platform 9 and 3/4 this way!" she shouted, then looked furtively at all the Muggles who gave her weird looks. "I mean.. erm.. Over here!" she said, pointing towards the brick barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Irma eyed them skeptically.

"And where is this Platform 9 and 3/4s? What are we supposed to do, run through a brick wall?" she asked sarcastically. Tonks beamed.

"I'm glad you're catching on so quickly!" she said, leaving Irma gaping like a fish.

"I wasn't serious, but whatever. I'll take your word for it," she said, and marched straight towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, pushing her trolley with her trunk and pet cat in front of her. Bracing herself for an impact, she was shocked to find that in one step she was now facing a bright scarlet steam engine. It had the Hogwarts crest emblazoning it's front, and smoke was rising from the chimney stack. She grinned when she saw the sign bearing the numbers  _"9 3/4"_  hanging from above a column.

"Irma! Over here!" she heard Ginny call, and noticed the Weasleys grouped over in a section of the platform She pushed her trolley towards them, and noticed that Hay Lin had followed her through the barrier and was close behind her.

"Have the boys help you load your things onto the train. You might want to board now so you can all get a compartment together," Mrs. Weasley suggested, and George smiled and walked over to her. He was wearing a nice dark green shirt and brown slacks, and Irma felt he had dressed up specifically to see her off. He took her trunk off the trolley.

"Let's get this on board, shall we?" he said, and she grinned at him, picking up Kitty Katty's cage and walking towards the trolley. Bill was helping Hay Lin and Charlie was helping Cornelia with her extremely heavy trunk. Once on the train, Irma had to push people out of the way until she found an empty compartment near the end. She opened it and George heaved her trunk up onto one of the rafters. Irma sat her cat's cage down on the seats, and turned to see George standing right in front of her. He had a serious expression on his face.

"Write to me?" he asked, and Irma felt her cheeks go pink. She nodded, for once not finding anything to say. "I feel like I've only scratched the surface of what an amazing person you are," he said softly, moving a lock of her curly brown hair behind her ear. Her breath hitched.

Hay Lin slid open the compartment door and George's hand fell away, a look of longing in his blue eyes, he turned to help Bill with Hay Lin's trunk. Hay Lin looked at Irma with a curious look, and Irma knew she would have to spill later... but not in the presence of blondie. By this point, all her friends had made it onto the train, and had mostly settled in, except for a couple of last minute goodbyes. Irma extracted herself from her friends so she could say goodbye to George, who was leaning casually against the door.

"I was wondering when you'd remember me," he said playfully, and she simply hugged him. Startled, he returned the hug. "Such forward behavior, my lady! You shock me!" he said. Irma could feel his voice through his chest as she hugged him, and laughed at the feeling.

"I can't help it. You're so damn huggable," she whispered, and he squeezed her tighter.

"Promise you'll write to me," he whispered into her hair, and she looked up at him.

"Why wouldn't I?" she replied, and hugged him once more before releasing him. He smiled at her, turned his gaze to right behind them, waved, and then disappeared with a pop. Startled, Irma turned around to see her friends suppressing giggles. She rolled her eyes and made her way to the window. The Weasley family had congregated outside it. She pulled the window open, and leaned out of it to wave.

"Have a great time girls! Learn something! See you sooner than you'd expect!" Tonks called with a wink, and Irma made a face. Tonks grinned, and waved once more. The clock struck eleven, and the train whistle blew. The girls squealed in excitement, and waved madly at the smiling faces of Tonks, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George before the train began to pull out of the station. They waved until their friends were just a mass of red hair, and until they were just a tiny speck as they left for their new school, Hogwarts.

o.O.o.O.o

Cornelia sighed and sunk into her seat on the train. She surveyed her friends, who all seemed as if in their own little worlds, thinking about Hogwarts of course. She picked Napoleon up out of his carrying case and sat him in her lap.

"So, girls, are we ready for this?" she asked, and they all seemed to be jerked out of their daze. Before they could answer, however, the compartment door was slid open and Harry darted inside followed by two other people, a boy holding a plant and an odd looking girl with long dirty blond hair.

"Hey, mind if we sit here? Everywhere else is full," Harry said, taking a seat by Cornelia. She shrugged, and scooted over to allow more room.

"This is Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood," he said, indicating the boy and girl in turn. The girls nodded at each of them in greeting.

"And you are?" Neville asked, sitting next to Hay Lin who eyed his odd looking plant warily.

"Hay Lin," she answered, and the rest of the girls introduced themselves as well.

"Well it is lovely to meet you all," the girl called Luna said dreamily, then took out a magazine and began to read it upside down. Cornelia noticed Taranee eyeing her oddly, but then looking over her shoulder at the magazine with interest.

"So why do you look so antsy, Harry?" Will asked, leaning against the window. Harry's eyes darted towards the compartment door.

"People have been er... staring at me ever since I got on the train," he said, and Will's gaze flicked to Cornelia and the two shared a look.

"It's because of what the papers have been saying. They've got it wrong, though... I was there, I know how it happened. Prophet's been glorifying it all a bit too much... not that my Gran was complaining, she even bought me a new wand, look," Neville said, as he showed them his new wand. "I think it was one of the last ones Ollivander ever sold, he was taken the very next day..."

"Wait, what? I'm totally lost," Hay Lin said, and Neville goggled at her.

"You mean you haven't... you don't know about..." he spluttered, but Harry came to her rescue.

"They've all been in the Muggle world until just now, they have no idea of what's been happening" he said quietly. Irma made a face.

"Actually... Tonks told us some things. Just enough though, so we don't know everything," she said slowly, looking at Harry warily.

"Well if Tonks told you, I'm sure it's the right story," he muttered, his gaze shifting to his shoes. Cornelia bit her lip. Was there really this much pressure on Harry? Time to lighten the mood.

"Where are Ron and Hermione? And Ginny?" she asked. Harry looked up, his eyes dark.

"Ginny's with Dean, her boyfriend. Ron and Hermione are prefects, so they're patrolling the corridors. They'll be along sometime," he mumbled, then turned to look at the compartment door. A group of girls had stopped outside it and were giggling furiously. One looked as if she was about to open the door, but stopped when she looked at Cornelia. Glaring at her, she stormed off with her friends also giving her reproachful looks. Cornelia bristled.

"What did I do?" she hissed. "There was absolutely no cause for that! I'm new here! I don't even know them!" she ranted, and Harry looked at her guiltily.

"Er... Well, Cornelia I think they're mad because... well, you're sitting with me... and they might be, er... jealous..." he trailed off uncomfortably. Cornelia raised her eyebrow.

"Your ex girlfriend?" Irma laughed from the corner, and Harry blushed like mad.

"No, I don't even know them either. They only know me because.. well..." he trailed off again.

"It's all right to admit that you are famous, Harry. It's for a good thing after all," Luna spoke up, and placed some odd looking glasses on before diving back into her upside down magazine. Neville was poking his plant awkwardly, and Will had leaned her head against the window of the train and was dozing off. Cornelia rather liked the amicable silence, when suddenly the door of the compartment slid open again. Expecting Ron, Hermione, or Ginny, Cornelia nearly leapt to her feet in shock when she heard the voice.

"I've come for my book."

She whirled around in her seat, and her eyes met those of the boy she had run into in Flourish and Blotts, the one with the enticing green eyes and sandy hair.

"Pardon?" she said, a little bewildered. "What book?" she asked him. He arched an eyebrow.

"After our little incident in the bookshop you must have taken my potions manual, the one I was reading before we ah... collided?" he prompted. Cornelia, feeling heat rise to her cheeks, dumped Napoleon on Harry's lap and stood up.

"It might be in my trunk," she said quietly. "Help me, will you?" she asked, and he entered the compartment. He hefted her trunk down from the luggage rack above her head, and she unlatched it. Feeling extremely self conscious, she rooted around amongst her possessions haphazardly before finding a book that was not on her Hogwarts list,  _Most Potente Potions - Advanced_. She pulled it out and put it on the seat.

"Thank you," he said, and together they lifted her trunk back to the luggage rack. Cornelia noticed his closeness as he did this; his body right behind her and his arms obstructing her peripheral vision as they lifted the trunk. She turned around to face him; he was extremely close. His lips quirked into a small smile as he reached behind her and grabbed the book. He turned towards Harry, who was holding onto Napoleon for dear life. "Potter," he said coldly, nodding his head.

"Nott," Harry replied, clutching the squirming cat. "Cornelia, take your cat. He's going to claw me to death," he said, and Cornelia snatched Napoleon from Harry, still gazing at the boy. He turned to look at her again.

"Goodbye, then... Cornelia," he said, and walked swiftly out of the compartment. Cornelia sank into her seat, lost in thought. Had he deliberately left his book with her just so he could come see her again? Or was it an honest mistake?

"Hem." A cough made by Irma disrupted her thoughts, and she looked up to find the entire compartment staring at her with wide eyes.

"Was it just me or was it getting a bit hot in here?" Irma joked.

"More like tense," Taranee muttered, and Cornelia ignored them but turned to Harry.

"Who was he?" she demanded. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Theodore Nott, a sixth year Slytherin. I don't know much about him, because he usually keeps to himself. I just know that his father was one of the Death Eaters I exposed when Voldemort," (Neville flinched at this) "returned back in fourth year. Obviously he doesn't like me much," he finished, glowering at the door.

"Corny, you sure know how to pick 'em! Too bad he's actually kinda hot..." Irma joked, and Cornelia glared at her, but inwardly she felt shattered. A Slytherin? Whose father was in prison? Could her life get much more complicated?

o.O.o.O.o

Will woke up from her short nap when she heard the word lunch.

"Anything from the lunch trolley dears?" a kindly old woman poked her head into their compartment, and Will instantly woke up.

"What have you got?" Hay Lin asked her, and she began rattling off a list of everything on the trolley. From the looks of things, it all seemed to be candy of some sort (how this was considered lunch, she didn't know).

"We'll take the lot," Harry said suddenly, and the trolley lady beamed.

"Always the same, every year," she said, and handed them a bunch of everything. Harry paid for it all and then turned to survey the massive amount of candy sitting on their laps. At that moment Ron and Hermione made their way into the compartment.

"Perfect, I'm starved!" Ron said, grabbing a licorice wand from the pile and tearing it open.

"Your'e always starving, Ronald," Hermione rolled her eyes, and sat next to Irma. Their compartment was now so full it was fit to burst.

"I'm glad you're back, I've got loads to tell you..." Harry began, when yet another visitor opened the compartment door.

"I'm supposed to give these to Neville Longbottom and Harry P-potter," the girl stammered, handing the boys two rolled up pieces of parchment tied with velvet purple ribbon.

"Slughorn wants us to have lunch with him in his compartment!" Harry exclaimed, and Hermione gave him a quizzical look.

"Whatever for? Oh Harry, Neville, you must go. You shouldn't refuse a teacher," she said primly, and the two boys got up and made their way out of the compartment, leaving a bit more room but only just. Will looked down at the candy sitting on her lap. Chocolate frogs? She wondered.

"These aren't... you know, real?" she asked tentatively.

"Nah, it's just a spell. Just pop it in your mouth whole and then tell me what card you get. Those are the cool part," Ron said through a mouthful of pumpkin pasty (Hermione and Cornelia wrinkling their noses). Will opened the box and a cute, entirely chocolate frog stared up at her before trying to leap out of the box. She caught it and ate it, then looked down at the card.

"I got Godric Gryffindor!" she told Ron, whose eyes bugged.

"No way! Let me see!" he exclaimed, and she handed him the card. He stared at it reverently.

"That is a rare card there. Only ten left in existence now, thanks to you. You could get some serious galleons for that," he said, and Will stuffed the card into her pocket quickly, earning giggles from Hay Lin and Irma. Suddenly the cramped compartment was almost too much for her, and she held her head in her hands.

"Will, are you ok?" Hermione asked, concern lacing her voice.

"Dizzy spell, is all. I think I need to get up and walk for a bit," she said, and then stood to exit the compartment. Walking down the train was relatively like trying to walk amidst the throngs of people in a sold out concert. She had to push through numerous amounts of people before she finally found a gap in the crowd, and extracted herself from it. Looking back at the gaggles of silly girls clogging the hallway and shaking her head, she turned around to continue walking only to run smack into someone.

"Hey! Watch... Oh. You again." That voice was familiar, and Will looked up into a pair of cold grey eyes. The blond boy that she had run into in Diagon Alley was looking down at her reproachfully, his features drawn into an expression of handsome haughtiness.

"Why can't you look where you're going? Is it a habit of yours to run into people constantly? Or is it just me you fancy knocking over?" he asked her, and Will felt her indignation towards this boy flare up.

"I do not run into people all the time! You just always seem to be in my way!" she retorted. He smirked.

"So it is only me you like to run into. Am I to be black and blue by the time I graduate Hogwarts because of constant run ins with you? Well, sorry to disappoint, but I don't go for girls who are friends of the Weasleys and that mudblood Granger," he sneered, venom in his voice as he mentioned their names. Will felt her blood boil and her magic flare up, but she restrained herself from blasting him with a fistful of Energy magic.

"Do not insult my friends. They're probably more than you have, by the looks of the way you treat people. What is your problem?" she spat. He scowled at her.

"My problem is that you are in my way. I'm trying to get to my compartment," he spat, indicating the one she happened to be standing in front of. She glanced at its occupants; they didn't look too friendly, so if he called for reinforcements, her chances weren't good.

"Well that doesn't give you the right to badmouth my friends. Take it back. Right now," she threatened, and he looked taken aback, as if no one had dared stand up to him in this way before.

"What did you say?" he asked, a look of genuine incredulity on his face.

"Take. It. Back," she growled, drawing her wand from her pocket and pinning it under his chin. They backed up until he was stuck against a compartment off to the side. Will smirked internally; his friends were probably getting a great show.

"Will!" She turned to see Hermione hurrying towards her. "Will, put your wand up at once! He's a prefect" she hissed, trying to pull Will's wand arm away from the blond boy.

"He insulted the Weasleys... and he called you a... a..." she tried to speak the word, but found that she couldn't. Hermione glared at him, but continued to tug at Will's arm.

"It's only Malfoy. He's not worth it. Just come back to our compartment," she said, and Will finally pulled her wand away from his neck. His haughty expression returned, yet it didn't reach his eyes and he rubbed his neck absently, staring at her curiously.

"Keep your gingers under control, Granger, or I'll have to report you lot!" Malfoy called out, a strangely out of place twinkle of dark amusement in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

"Oh, shove off, Malfoy," Hermione snapped. Malfoy snickered, shaking his head.

"Granger, watch that mouth of yours... you're smart enough to know where the line is, unless you enjoy crossing it?" he taunted. Hermione sniffed, while Will watched the exchange a bit bewildered. Her anger still bubbling under the surface, however, she tapped her wand menacingly against her hand. Hermione finally dragged Will away from the cold grey eyes of Malfoy, but not before she got the last word in.

"Don't cross me again, jerk," she warned him, and then turned on her heel and marched back to the compartment. Once they were almost there, Hermione stopped and turned to face Will.

"I... I wanted to thank you. For sticking up for me and the Weasleys. Even though we've hardly known each other a week, I'm glad you stood up to him... he needs to be knocked down a peg or two. Just... try not to get involved with him anymore, he could put you in detention," she said firmly, then turned to continue down the train.

"What did that word mean? The one he called you... Mud... erm. Well, I recognize an insulting word when I hear one," Will said nervously. Hermione's expression became pained.

"Mudblood is a really foul name for someone who is Muggle born, someone with non magic parents... like me. Malfoy has been using it to insult me since second year, so I'm used to it.. but it's not something one hears in civilized conversation," she said as they continued walking.

"Sticks and stones, Hermione," Will grinned, and Hermione smiled back at her as they entered the compartment.

"Harry still not back? Where could he have gone?" Hermione gasped as she sat down. Neville had returned, but told them that Harry had told him to 'go on ahead' while he 'checked something.' Will frowned at the orange sky, the sun beginning its descent for the evening's approach.

"We'll be at Hogwarts soon, I suggest we change into our robes," Luna spoke up, and thus a bustle ensued as they reached for their trunks. Will, pulling her black Hogwarts robes out of her trunk, was beginning to feel apprehensive. After all, this was to be one of the biggest changes she was to face in her life, besides being a Guardian of course.

o.O.o.O.o

Hay Lin nervously adjusted her robes as the train began to slow to a stop. Harry still hadn't returned, and everyone was worried.

"Should we go look for him?" Hermione asked, looking down the train for any sign of him.

"Nah, he's probably fine. We'll just meet him at dinner," Ron said dismissively, but it did nothing to quell the anxiety in the air.

"I'll go look for him," Luna spoke up serenely. "Would someone like to accompany me?" she asked. Feeling like she needed to stretch her legs, Hay Lin stood up and followed Luna out of the compartment. On her way out the door, Hermione called out.

"Wait! Take these and give them to Harry if you find him," she said, handing Hay Lin his robes. It wouldn't be difficult to spot Harry's untidy mess of black hair in the crowd, but he was nowhere in sight. They pushed through crowds of students milling about the slowing train, all dressed in their robes. The train came to a complete stop, and there was a sudden rush of people exiting compartments, such that Hay Lin and Luna were nearly swamped. Yet maybe because she was with Luna people gave them a wide berth once the students took notice of her.

"You look in these compartments and I'll look in these," Hay Lin told the blond girl, who nodded dreamily before opening the doors one by one as the students exited them. Hay Lin noticed a couple of compartments with the blinds drawn shut, and curiously pointed them out to Luna, who drew her wand. Hay Lin followed suit, although she was sure that in a fight she'd rather use her own, trusty Air Guardian powers while she got used to her new wand. Something about the closed blinds unsettled Hay Lin, and she cautiously slid the compartment open. There was no one in there. Yet Luna seemed to see something Hay Lin didn't for she smiled and kneeled to pull off what seemed to be an invisible cloak off of Harry Potter, lying in an awkward position with a bloody nose on the floor.

" _Finite_!" Luna said, and Harry relaxed from his odd pose.

"Thanks Luna," he said, his voice a little muffled by the state of his nose.

"What happened?" Hay Lin gasped, handing Harry his robes and he quickly changed into of them.

"Malfoy bloody broke my nose, that's what," he said grumpily, and they followed the remaining students to the train's exit.

"Firs' years this way! Get in the boats, four to a boat!" a gruff, deep voice called out, and when Hay Lin saw the owner she squeaked in fear and darted behind Harry. Instead of turning and running, however, Harry smiled grimly.

"Hello, Hagrid," he said, and the great beast of a man beamed.

"Blimey, 'Arry! What happened to yer nose?" he exclaimed, herding the first years into boats.

"Malfoy. It's a long story, I'll drop by for tea some time and tell you," he mumbled. "See you," he said, and walked with Hay Lin still hiding behind him over to where were stationed carts in which students were being shipped up to the school. And Hay Lin's breath whooshed right out of her lungs when she saw the school. It was a castle, situated on the edge of a rocky cliff, and it was one of the most beautiful places she had ever seen. The windows were giving off a warm light, and Hay Lin knew that she was going to be painting this sometime soon. She, Harry, and Luna climbed into the last cart, and Hay Lin shrieked when she saw what was pulling it.

"What's that!" she exclaimed. Harry stared at her.

"You mean you can see it?" he whispered. Hay Lin nodded, not taking her eyes off of what looked like a dark, desperately starved winged horse, something that one would see standing next to the Grim Reaper or something. "It's a Thestral. People only see them when they've seen death," Harry spoke quietly.

"I see them too," Luna said simply, adjusting her odd glasses as the cart began to pull them up to the school. "Who do you know that has died?" she asked with an inquisitive innocence.

"My grandma. Well... It's actually quite complicated. I'd rather not..."

"You don't have to," Harry smiled bitterly, the blood on his face making his smile even more chilling.

"You want me to fix it for you?" Luna asked, gesturing towards Harry with her wand as they neared the castle. "I know plenty of healing spells," she stated.

"Go on, then. Give it a go," he said, and turned to face her.

" _Episkey!_ "

"Ow!" Harry's nose, upon being reset, began to bleed freshly, and Luna handed him a handkerchief.

"You can keep it," she said, and Hay Lin giggled despite her nerves as they entered through the gates of the school, the winged boars unnerving her even more than she already was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Four: Complete!
> 
> Your comments are motivation, I'd appreciate it :)


	5. The Sorting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Guardians are Sorted into their new Houses. We meet new students as a result, and someone from the Guardians' past is going to show up at Hogwarts...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of Nov. 2017, I have gone through this fic and touched up some plot points that bothered me, as well as attempting to fix any errors I can find in general. Refurbished to the best of my ability, here is the new and improved story, which I hope to continue to completion.
> 
> Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling; W.I.T.C.H. was created by Elisabetta Gnone. I do not own either of these works, I'm just having some fun in their worlds for a while.
> 
> Author's Note at the end may answer some of your questions, but for now, enjoy!

Will Vandom entered the atrium of Hogwarts School and felt as if there was absolutely no time to look at anything at all. There was so much going on all around her, and if this was just the Entrance Hall, she was having a hard time picturing the rest of the school.

"First years, follow me!" she heard a woman's voice call, and she turned to face a very strict woman wearing a pointed black witch's hat over her black hair which was clasped in a tight bun at the nape of her neck. She looked fearsome, yet tired at the same time. Her sharp gaze zeroed in on them. "Ah, and you must be the new students. If you would please wait here while I organize and explain the rules to the first years," she said, studying them. "And I was under the impression that there were five of you..." she pursed her lips, when the last cart rolled up to the door and Hay Lin, Luna, and Harry climbed out of it.

"Hm! You must be the fifth," she said as Hay Lin joined her friends. "Potter, what on earth happened to your nose?  _Tergeo_!" she said, and the blood covering Harry's face and robes was siphoned off.

"Thanks, Professor," he muttered, touching his nose gingerly.

"Potter, you and Miss Lovegood had better go inside and get seated. The Sorting is about to begin," she said, and Harry and Luna waved at them as they filed after a few stragglers around a corner. "Now," the woman turned to them, and by consequence the first years, who were milling about tittering excitedly. "Please file into two orderly lines. You five, stay back there," she said, indicating Will and her friends. Once the lines were assembled, the woman cleared her throat.

"I am Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration teacher here at Hogwarts. Welcome. The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but first you must be sorted into your houses. There are four houses, called Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. While you are here, your house will be like your family. Triumphs will earn you house points, while rule-breaking will lose you points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points in their hourglass," she said, indicating four enormous hourglasses against the wall opposite them "will be awarded the House Cup. The Sorting will take place shortly, in the meantime I suggest you smarten yourselves up before we go inside."

Will nervously tucked a lock of her red hair behind her ear. How were they to be sorted? Was it some kind of magic test? She was sure she would be able to accomplish it, but it would definitely give away her cover.

"Now, first years, and you five, follow me," McGonagall said, and they took off around the corner to face two ornate double doors. "You five wait here, and I'll come fetch you when it is your turn to be sorted," she said, and they nodded. She pushed the double doors open, and Will's eyes probably looked the size of dinner plates.

McGonagall led the first years into the most splendid banquet hall she had ever seen. The ceiling looked like it was bewitched to reflect the night sky, and thousands of candles floated overhead. Four long tables were stretched out in the hall, with students taking up most of them. The first years filed in with extremely nervous expressions until they stopped at the far end of the hall. Then, for about a minute, Will thought she heard... singing? Coming from the end of the hall, and she also believed she heard the names of the four houses along with other words. Then, it stopped, and was followed by a polite clapping.

"Now when I call your name, you will..." What? Will decided not to crane her neck around the door to see what they would have to be doing. She was unsure of what was going on in there, but after about twenty seconds...

"RAVENCLAW!" a deep voice bellowed, and Will heard clapping coming from members of the hall. Then, another name was called, and this time...

"SLYTHERIN!" followed by more cheers. This method continued until Will assumed the first years were all sorted into their houses, but as it went on, Will felt a growing dread as the house names were shouted out. What did the first years have to do? And who chose the houses for them? She was brought out of her thoughts as Professor McGonagall returned, and beckoned them into the hall.

Moving almost as one, they entered the breathtaking Hall and tried to avoid the stares of the many students surrounding them. Will could feel them boring into her skin, and she felt a peculiar twinge that made her tilt her eyes over towards the table dominated by black robes with green trim. Briefly she met cold, grey eyes, and she tore her own away huffily as she marched behind McGonagall, her confidence suddenly returning. They had stopped in front of a long table holding, Will assumed, the Hogwarts staff.

"Now, when I call your name, you will come forward, place the Sorting Hat on your head, and be sorted into your houses," McGonagall directed, then unrolling a small piece of parchment. "Cook, Taranee," she spoke. Taranee, visibly shaking, walked forward and placed the frayed black hat on her head. Thanks to her mental link with the girls, Will managed to hear a tiny voice speaking into her friend's ear.

"Oh, yes, the brilliance of this mind is astounding," it began. "Courage too, and a fiery personality to boot, if I do say so myself... But where to put you? Two houses come to mind, but with yours being so superior to those of others, better be... RAVENCLAW!" it yelled the house name from a torn frayed rip at its brim, and the blue table erupted into cheers as Taranee shakily took off the hat and sat down next to Luna Lovegood.

"Hale, Cornelia," McGonagall called out. Cornelia walked gracefully forward, and despite they hat's frayed appearance, she still looked breathtaking as she sat on the stool and placed it on her head. Taranee's mental link still open, Will sharpened her senses to hear what the Hat said about Cornelia.

"Oh, yes, my dear, you are an ambitious one. You would do well in Slytherin... but the love you hold for others is strong, and you have a good heart. There is much compassion and drive within you... You posses love and courage, and a very resolute, firm grasp on life... Best be... GRYFFINDOR!" it exclaimed, and the red and gold table shouted and clapped as Cornelia walked over to them and took a seat by Harry.

"Lair, Irma," McGonagall called, and Irma skipped up to the stool and jammed the hat over her head, earning a few chuckles from the students.

"Bubbly and silly, this one... You remind me of those Weasley twins," the hat began in Irma's head. "You'd do well with others like you in Hufflepuff, as your loyalty is strong. But your fluid personality also holds strength and courage... You'd definitely be another GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted, and the table once again burst into cheers as Irma sauntered down towards them and sat next to Ginny.

"Lin, Hay," McGonagall called, and Hay Lin walked up toward the hat, her pigtails whipping a bit as she sat down. Will was now standing awkwardly in front of the staff table, but she pushed that thought aside and listened to Hay Lin's critique.

"Creative and breezy, you are... quirky creativity would suit you well among the Ravenclaws. Yet... Loyal too, the most prominent of your qualities so far... I see a determination there, too, and definitely a happiness as well... You'd do best in HUFFLEPUFF!" it shouted, and Hay Lin walked over in the direction of the cheering yellow table, and sat down with an awkward smile on her face.

"Vandom, Will," McGonagall called out as she closed her scroll. Will stepped up towards the hat and placed it over her head, the brim covering her eyes and plunging her into darkness.

"Ah... Oh yes. I've been waiting for a look into your mind. You are the one that holds them all together, yes? The Heart of the Guardians, if you don't mind me being so forward. All is in order... You are just as you should be. Compassionate, strong willed, loving, courageous, smart... All the makings of a leader. Your drive and ambition to do great things would have you thrive in Slytherin..." the Hat trailed off, as Will's immediate mental turmoil seemed to push through like a stabbing jolt of anxiety. "Not Slytherin, eh? Well, then, there is no other house for you, I'm afraid. You'll definitely be in... GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted to the Hall, and the Gryffindor table once again erupted into cheers. Will staggered off the stool, shooting Taranee a quick look before sitting down next to Hermione.

McGonagall took the Hat and the stool away, and then a man sitting in the center of the staff table arose. Wearing long, glittering robes of a dark maroon with a silver belt, he wore an elegant wizard's hat which matched his robes rather well. He had a long, silvery beard, twinkling blue eyes shielded by half-moon glasses, and a quiet, friendly air about him. However, one of his hands was shriveled and blackened as if it had died. Many students, upon seeing this, began to whisper hushedly; one smiling, pleasant look from the man quelled all noise instantly.

"I know that all of you, like myself, are desperately hungry, and thus I have only two words before we begin the feast: Tuck In."

Immediately the golden plates and platters in front of Will filled with all sorts of delectable dishes, and her jaw must have slacked open a bit, for Hermione smirked and nudged her.

"Come, on eat something!" she said, helping herself to a slice of chicken pot pie, glowering a bit as she did so while muttering something about slave labor. Will instantly heaped piles of delicious food onto her own plate and poured herself a glass of pumpkin juice.

"So, Harry, what exactly happened on the train? You never got to tell us about it," she asked, slicing a bit of steak and popping in in her mouth. Harry grumbled and looked over at Malfoy as he chewed, and Hermione gasped. He then began to recount the tale of how he followed Blaise Zabini into Malfoy's compartment to spy on them (earning a reproachful look from Hermione). He told them that Malfoy had spoke of 'better things' outside of Hogwarts, and joining You-Know-Who's ranks early. By the time he had finished, the main courses had vanished and were replaced by desserts.

"He saw me come in though, and when everyone was getting off the train he knocked me down and petrified me, then stamped on my nose. He would have left me there, too, if it weren't for Luna and Hay Lin," he finished, spooning a bit of treacle tart into his mouth. Cornelia grimly shook her head and set her spoon down.

"Are all Slytherins like this?" she asked quietly, her gaze flicking past Ron, who was sitting across from her, and over to the Slytherin table.

"They're always bloody awful," Ron said through a mouthful of jello, and Cornelia grimaced (whether it be because of disgust for Ron or the Slytherins Will didn't know). Hermione frowned at this statement once again, seemed to war with herself about saying something, then chose to remain silent. Finishing her own pudding, Will took one last sip of her drink before everything vanished, leaving the plates sparkling as they were before. The man with the long beard (Will had found out that he was in fact Albus Dumbledore while chatting at dinner) got up again and walked over to a pedestal.

"The very best of evenings to all of you. Now that we're all sorted, settled, and fed, I know you are ready to turn in for the night. But before we begin, I must announce a few things. Firstly, I'd like to mention a few staff changes. Please welcome Professor Slughorn, who has kindly returned to his old post as Portions professor," he said, and a round, stubby man resembling a walrus stood up to the applause.

"Potions?" Hermione questioned under her breath. "Harry, I thought he was supposed to be the new Defense teacher," she muttered to Harry as the man sat back down. Harry looked bewildered.

"Meanwhile, the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts will be taken by Professor Snape," Dumbledore continued. Mixed mutterings were heard from the crowd, and Harry let out an outraged sound. Ron's face was scarlet as well, while Hermione and Ginny looked white as sheets.

"Snape? How!" was all Harry managed to get out, and judging by the purplish hue on Ron's face, Will figured that he was not a very well liked teacher. The Slytherin table clapped the loudest, and that also shed some light on the situation for Will. She glanced at Irma and Cornelia as the applause died down.

"Now, as you know, your items were searched by Mr. Filch upon your arrival, who would also like me to remind you that all products from the store Weasley's Wizard Wheezes are to be banned, and that wandering the corridors after curfew is forbidden. The Forbidden Forest is, as the name implies, forbidden. Yet more pressing, and unfortunately disturbing matters are at hand. You were all searched for a reason, and I feel you have the right to know why," he paused, scanning the crowd. Will felt her throat tighten in anticipation of what he was to say.

"Once, there was a young man, who like you, sat in this very hall. Walked this castle's corridors, attended lessons as you do. He seemed to all the world a student, like any other. His name? Tom Riddle," Dumbledore paused again as he waited for the whispers to die down. "Today, of course, he is known by another name. Which is why as I stand tonight looking out upon you all, I'm reminded of a sobering fact. Every hour, every minute, this very second, dark forces are attempting to penetrate this castle's walls. For in the end, their greatest weapon is you. Just something to think about. Now, off to bed. Pip pip! You'll receive your timetables in the morning," he said, dismissing the Hall. People instantly began chattering, and Will stood up shakily.

"Well, that was cheerful," Ron muttered as he and the rest of the Gryffindors made their way out of the hall. Will turned to look for Hay Lin and Taranee, and saw them heading off in different directions, Taranee with Luna and Hay Lin looking a bit bewildered, With a pang of sadness, she turned and followed the rest of her friends.

o.O.o.O.o

Taranee followed Luna with a swarm of other Ravenclaws towards the West end of the castle. She gasped as they came upon a stairwell filled with multiple moving staircases, and she followed Luna and the others up to the fifth floor. She was feeling a little apprehensive since she was separated from her friends, but at least she knew someone in her house, even if it was Luna Lovegood. Reaching the fifth floor, the Ravenclaws continued to chatter as they came upon a hallway that ended in stone: a dead end, save for a solitary spiral staircase which presumably led to their rooms. Many Ravenclaws were already ascending it, and Taranee and Luna followed. She noticed short pauses in the flow of people; for a second or two, the line up the stairs stopped moving, and then continued for a brief moment.

"Why do we keep stopping?" Taranee asked the blond, who was adjusting her odd glasses she had called Spectraspecs.

"To gain entrance to the common room you must answer a riddle, otherwise you have to wait outside until you figure it out or someone figures it out for you. When many people go inside at once, the door closes after ten people enter and asks another riddle," Luna answered as they themselves came to the top of the staircase. The large door slammed shut just as Taranee walked forward, and to her great surprise, the brass door knocker spoke to her.

"Ah, a new ready mind for me to test. Here is your riddle.  _What is broken every time it is spoken?_ " the knocker, brass and in the shape of an eagle, inquired. Taranee, nervous, bit her lip. She didn't want to clog up the stairwell, but she worried that if she didn't answer it correctly she would make a fool of herself to her new classmates.

"Do you want me to answer?" Luna asked serenely from behind her, yet not by means to show off. Taranee shook her head.

"I think the answer is silence," she told the knocker, and she saw it's beak twitch.

"You think or you know?" it asked.

"I know," she replied, and the door swung open.

Taranee, followed by Luna and eight others entered the common room. It was a circular, airy room with a large domed ceiling painted with flickering stars. It had high arched windows draped with blue silks and a plush dark blue carpet. Cozy grey armchairs and couches were scattered artfully here and there, and stacks upon stacks of books lined the bookcases on the walls. A fireplace with a small fire blazing in it was in one corner, and next to it were stairs leading up to the dormitories. Situated next to the stairs was a white marble statue of a very beautiful, regal looking woman with a wise quality to her features.

"I believe you would be in my room, the fifth year girls dormitories," Luna said, and together they ascended the steps and took a right, leading up to the girls dormitories. They walked down a hall that held a couple of bedrooms off of it, and Luna pushed open the fifth one down. Taranee smiled.

"Sparky!" she exclaimed, for her owl was perched in its cage next to one of the five four poster beds in the room. They each had dark blue curtains tied to the posts with golden ropes, and the sheets were a pattern of blue plaids. Taranee noticed her trunk at the foot of her bed, and Luna's at the foot of the bed next to hers. They were joined by three other girls Taranee had seen at dinner, who smiled shyly and went to their possessions.

"I think we will be good roommates, don't you?" Luna asked absently, sitting on her bed. Taranee smiled, feeling a pang of loneliness for her four closest friends, but she couldn't help feeling a bit of happiness in having found a new one.

o.O.o.O.o

Hay Lin desperately wished she was anywhere else at this moment. She was following the Hufflepuffs quietly as they made their way to the dormitories, walking from the Entrance Hall towards what seemed to be a vast portrait gallery near the bottom of the school. Then, the group of students passed in front of a still life picture of a fruit bowl, but kept going. Hay Lin overheard an older student telling the first years that behind the painting of the fruit bowl were the Hogwarts kitchens.

Proceeding past the large still life that forms the entrance to the latter, a pile of large barrels was found stacked in a shadowy stone recess on the right-hand side of the corridor. The group came to a halt as the prefects gathered around the barrels. They indicated the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, and explained to the crowd at large that this particular barrel will open if tapped in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff'. They explained that as a security device to repel non-Hufflepuffs, tapping on the wrong barrel, or tapping the incorrect number of times, results in one of the other lids bursting off and drenching the interloper in vinegar.

Hay Lin was grateful for her Guardian abilities associated with the element of Air, as she was able to hear music or rhythms and remember them quite easily, sometimes even replay memories associated with them within her mind. She closed her eyes, and filed away the tapping sounds of the common room entrance rhythm. She then opened her eyes and watched as the barrel opened, revealing a passageway behind it. She followed the throngs of students inside a sloping, earthy passage within the barrel, which traveled upwards a little way until a cosy, round, low-ceilinged room was revealed, reminiscent of a badger's set.

The room was decorated in the cheerful, bee-like colors of yellow and black, emphasized by the use of highly polished, honey-colored wood for the tables and the round doors which lead to the boys' and girls' dormitories. A colorful profusion of plants and flowers seem to relish the atmosphere of the Hufflepuff common room: various cacti stood on wooden circular shelves (curved to fit the walls), many of them waving and dancing at passers-by, while copper-bottomed plant holders dangling amid the ceiling caused tendrils of ferns and ivies to brush people's hair as they passed under them.

There was a fireplace on one wall, with a portrait over the wooden mantelpiece (carved all over with decorative dancing badgers) showing a woman Hay Lin found out to be Helga Hufflepuff, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School, toasting her students with a tiny, two-handled golden cup. Small, round windows just level with the ground at the foot of the castle showed a pleasant view of rippling grass and dandelions, and, as she overheard a third-year girl explaining to a first year, occasionally, one could see the passing feet of students walking the grounds. These low windows notwithstanding, Hay Lin supposed that during the daytime the room would feel perennially sunny.

There were plenty of other yellow hangings draped here and there across the walls, a large bulletin board on one wall, clear of notices (for now), and squashy yellow armchairs and couches scattered throughout the room. Warm brown rugs completed the common room, and Hay Lin had to admit her feeling that this place felt like home.

Yet she still felt extremely lonely. Three of her friends were in Gryffindor with most of her other acquaintances; Taranee was the only one of the Guardians who was in a similar situation, but even then she had Luna with her, the girl they met on the train. Hay Lin awkwardly stood by the doorway for a moment before spotting a vacant armchair and making a dash for it. Sinking into it, she sighed and leaned her face in her hand. Her grandmother wouldn't want her feeling so melancholy. She was here to learn, not to feel bad about social outcomes. However, Hay Lin knew her grandmother would understand her feelings. She'd tell her to not spend so much time thinking about how she missed her current friends, but to go out and make more.

"You look a bit lost." Hay Lin's thoughts of her beloved grandmother, light years away at Kandrakar, were interrupted by a blonde boy who was standing right in front of her.

"Ernie Macmillan. And you are Hay Lin; nice to meet you. Sorry if I startled you there, I just couldn't help noticing you looking a bit sad," the boy babbled on, and Hay Lin was taken aback for a moment. She studied him; he held himself a bit pompously, and his face wasn't bad looking, if rather stout. He had soft, wavy blondish hair and dark eyes, although Hay Lin couldn't be sure of their color since it was dark in the common room.

"I'm sorry I've been so anti-social," she grinned back, deciding that despite his pompous attitude and nosey behavior, he was actually speaking to her and getting acquainted. He beamed at her.

"Glad to see you're warming up," he said, and he extended his hand to her. She took it, and followed him over to a table where three other Hufflepuffs, a boy and two girls, were sitting and staring at them.

"This is Justin Finch-Fletchley, Susan Bones, and Hannah Abbott. Justin, Susan, Hannah, this is Hay Lin," he said, and she sat down next to Hannah, smiling. They returned the smiles.

"So, you're a fifth year?" Justin asked as Ernie sat down. He had dark curly brown hair, dark eyes, and seemed to be the friendly sort. Hay Lin nodded.

"I'll be starting a bunch of classes for the first time tomorrow... any pointers?" she asked.

Susan, a curvy auburn-haired girl with freckles, shrugged and said nothing. She looked a bit sad. It was Hannah who spoke up instead.

"You'll be taking your O.W.L.'s then, so I suggest you don't fall behind and ask for help if you need it," Hannah said. She was very thin, had longish dark blonde hair, hazel eyes, and gave off a sweet yet innocent disposition.

"Thanks," Hay Lin nodded to her.

"So I heard you came up to the school last with Harry Potter and Loony Lovegood... Care to elaborate?" Ernie asked, and Hay Lin's brow furrowed.

"He was hurt on the train... Broke his nose... And what's wrong with Luna? She may be a bit... odd, but that's no reason for you to call her names!" Hay Lin replied sternly. Ernie held up his hands in mock apology.

"Hey, sorry, old habits die hard as they say. And really, broke his nose? It looked fine to me when I saw him... Maybe I didn't look hard enough..." Ernie mused, and Hannah rolled her eyes.

"Stop being so nosey, Ernie. It doesn't become you," she said, and Justin snickered while Susan huffed but a small smile appeared on her features nevertheless.

"Oy! You lot, get to bed, you don't even have homework yet, no need to stay up so late!" a boy yelled, standing next to a giggling girl who looked a bit younger than Hay Lin. Justin glared at him.

"You're no prefect, Zacharias, go to bed yourself!" he called back, and the boy called Zacharias bristled. "You just want to make out with giggle girl over there," Justin added under his breath, causing their table to cackle at the poor girl's expense. However, Ernie did take it as a reminder of the time, and suggested they all go up to bed anyway (of course taking Zacharias with them up to the sixth year boys' dormitories). With that, Hay Lin, Susan, and Hannah made their way into the opposite rounded door, and Hannah led Hay Lin to where her stuff was before leaving to go to her own room.

"See you at breakfast?" she called out as she left.

"You can count on it!" Hay Lin replied as she rifled through her trunk. Although lonely, Hay Lin felt as if she had also made a new set of friends, just like her grandmother would have advised her.

o.O.o.O.o

Somewhere else in the castle, in Professor Snape's office to be exact, a woman was sitting in the chair opposite a very irate Professor Snape himself. He looked her over, and felt an uneasiness he reserved only for when he had audiences with the Dark Lord himself. This woman, with her short dark hair and catlike eyes was sharp, and he would have to raise his defenses even more against her.

"So, I am to be stuck with you for the remainder of my year as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" he simpered out, lacing his voice with malice, hoping to intimidate her. She didn't flinch; the muscles in her face didn't twitch.

"Yes, that's right, Severus Snape. Professor Dumbledore requested me to be your assistant as it is your first year teaching this subject, and I have... skills that he deemed necessary to teach his students," she replied, her voice velvety and the words leaving her lips at almost a purr.  _'So it seems we both have secrets. It that's the way you want to play, cat girl, then fine. So be it,'_ Snape thought, but did not let his lips betray. He curled his lips instead into a sneer.

"If you are allowed to call me by my first name, dear colleague, what may I have the  _pleasure_ ," he spoke, his tone and the deadliness of it betraying his words completely, making it sound as if it was hardly a pleasure at all, "to call you?" he finished. She fixated him with her cat like orbs, and the corner of her upper lip twitched up, revealing quite unnaturally pointed incisors.

"Rebecca. Rebecca Rudolph."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Five: Complete!
> 
> If you are lost as to who Rebecca Rudolph is, brush up on your W.I.T.C.H. knowledge of the comics!
> 
> Many descriptions (as I have done in this chapter with the common rooms) are taken directly from Pottermore and/or the books. You will find these reiterations frequently through the story, as I am striving for accuracy. Also, if the story is sounding almost word for word similar to Half Blood Prince, it is because the story is taking place during that book/movie. Everything in the HP world shall come to pass... however differently due to the Guardians' presence.
> 
> As for the Houses themselves, I hopefully managed to justify each placement as best as possible. I am a Slytherin myself, so I would have loved for one of the girls to have ended up in that House, but their personalities do not really fit in there. Cornelia and Will are the only two that would have potentially been fitting, but their compassion and bravery pushes them right into Gryffindor.
> 
> Review please! :)


	6. Classes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of classes, the Guardians find out slowly what their powers will be like meshing with their newly awakened Wizarding magic. They also reunite with someone from their past...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of Nov. 2017, I have gone through this fic and touched up some plot points that bothered me, as well as attempting to fix any errors I can find in general. Refurbished to the best of my ability, here is the new and improved story, which I hope to continue to completion.
> 
> Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling; W.I.T.C.H. was created by Elisabetta Gnone. I do not own either of these works, I'm just having some fun in their worlds for a while.
> 
> Author's Note at the end may answer some of your questions, but for now, enjoy!

Cornelia awoke to Hermione shaking her.

"Wake up! We can't be late to breakfast, we get our timetables today!" the bushy haired bookworm said in an excited whisper before moving over to Will's bed. Cornelia sat up and kicked her legs off of her four poster bed, stretching. They had returned last night from dinner to an area known as the Gryffindor Tower, in which their dormitories and the common room were located. Cornelia, Will, and Hermione shared the sixth year girl's dorm with two other girls named Lavender and Parvati, the types of girls Cornelia rolled her eyes at due to their excessively gigglish nature. Upon reaching their room, Cornelia was happy to see all her belongings, her trunk, and Napoleon situated at the foot of her bed.

Now, pulling on her school robes, Cornelia was surprised to see that they had changed overnight to match Hermione and all of the other Gryffindor's robes; now instead of plain black, her robes were black with gold and red trim, with the Gryffindor crest on each. She was also provided with two Gryffindor sweater-vests, three ties, and a scarf. Will had the exact same happen to her, so Cornelia assumed that the others had also received House themed clothes. She pocketed her wand and, since she had no idea which classes she would be taking, waited as Will sleepily adjusted her tie and followed her and Hermione out of the room. They met Irma and Ginny along the way, and they proceeded into the common room.

"Morning!" Ron called out, sleep still in his eyes as Harry also rubbed his own behind his glasses. They exited the portrait hole and soon joined the many milling students in the breakfast hall. Stomach growling, Cornelia sat down at the Gryffindor table and began to pile her plate with toast and eggs with as much dignity as she could. Irma, on the other hand, was less subtle, and stuffed a pastry in her mouth before her butt had finished touching the bench. Cornelia rolled her eyes.

"I do not know you," she muttered, and Irma grinned at her with pastry crumbs on her cheeks. They ate in amicable silence (except for Hermione's twittering at random intervals about classes) as the rest of the students from the other houses filed in for breakfast. Cornelia waved at Hay Lin and Taranee when they came in, and dropped her hand to her lap when she noticed Theodore Nott, the boy from the bookshop and the train, walking in behind Taranee. He smirked and walked over to the Slytherin table. Suddenly, Professor McGonagall was standing over them as if out of nowhere.

"Sixth years come up to my office in ten minutes to get your new timetables; Miss Lair, Miss Vandom, and Miss Hale will come with me first," she spoke, and Cornelia nudged Irma as she tried to stuff some bacon into her mouth as they got up to follow their Head of House. Cornelia noticed Hay Lin and Taranee joining them with what seemed to be their own House Heads, a short squat lady with a patchy hat and an even shorter, impish looking old man with kindly eyes. They walked past the Entrance Hall and into the stairwell. At first Cornelia thought she was heading back up to Gryffindor tower, but they continued up the stairs until they reached the seventh floor. McGonagall led them briskly towards a stone gargoyle.

"Acid Pops," she said, and the gargoyle leapt to the side, revealing a moving spiral staircase that led, presumably, up a tower. The girls and their professors climbed on, and they reached a wooden door. McGonagall pushed it open to reveal, Cornelia could only assume, the Headmaster's office. Professor Dumbledore himself was sitting behind his desk feeding a scarlet bird a bit of seed when they made their way in.

"Ah, welcome girls. I trust your stay at Hogwarts has so far been to your liking?" he asked, and all the girls nodded, smiling a little as they did so. Dumbledore smiled back at them. "Well, then, down to business. As you all know, you are a bit behind in your studies due to your late start. Yet I believe all five of you have it in you to catch up and even surpass some of your fellow classmates, if you choose to apply yourselves," he began, and Cornelia noticed his eyes flicked briefly over Irma with a twinkle before he continued.

"It is for that belief that I have contacted the Ministry of Magic and they have agreed to let myself, along with your professors here, tutor you in your magical knowledge whenever you need help. You will be required to meet with me here in my office once a week, on a weeknight of course. The teachers will be giving you homework despite theses circumstances, and I trust you will be able to keep up. Furthermore, you will be able to meet with your Heads of Houses additionally once a weeknight, although not the same as the night of tutoring you will receive from me. We will teach you and try to catch you up as quickly as possible, in time for the Christmas holidays if all goes well," he continued, and Cornelia was beginning to feel an intense workload already... and she didn't even have her classes assigned yet!

"As for the O.W.L.s, Miss Lair, Lin, and Cook will be eligible to take them in the spring along with their fellow fifth years. Miss Vandom and Hale will be eligible for them as well, but only as an assessment to determine which field of magic they choose to study further. They can choose not to take them, however, if the strain is too much," Dumbledore smiled knowingly, and Cornelia bit her lip. She hated pressure.

"The Ministry has also agreed to allow Miss Vandom and Hale into the N.E.W.T. classes, even if they have not yet taken an O.W.L in the subject, and so long as they perform well, they will be allowed to stay in that class. You have the options before you, and you will discuss it with your Heads of House when you pick up your timetables. Speaking of, I believe it's that time, so off you go," he said, shooing them with a little wave. "I shall send a message for the date and time of our first lesson!" he called as they bustled out the door. Descending the spiral staircase and back out into the castle, Cornelia followed McGonagall who was walking at a brisk pace to her office. Hay Lin and Taranee headed off in the opposite direction, back to the stairs, with their Heads of Houses. They waved, and disappeared.

"Now, I'll see you two first," McGonagall said, pointing to Cornelia and Will as they reached her office, where the sixth year Gryiffindors were already milling about. They entered, and sat down across form her at her desk.

"Which classes to sign you up for? Some are required for most fields of work, so I'll put you down for N.E.W.T Transfiguration, N.E.W.T. Charms, N.E.W.T. History of Magic, N.E.W.T. Herbology, and N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts. Would you both like to take N.E.W.T. Potions? It's fairly simple, just follow the instructions like a recipe in a book" she stated, and the girls nodded. McGonagall scribbled something on her notepad, then continued.

"Are either of you interested in Astronomy?" she asked, and Will shrugged; the Professor marked something on her tablet. Cornelia thought it a sensible subject, so she voiced her interest in taking it as well. McGonagall nodded. "And now for the electives: Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, Divination, or Care of Magical Creatures?" she asked, and Cornelia, already swamped with work, decided to play it safe.

"I'll take Arithmancy and Ancient Runes," she said, and McGonagall seemed to smirk a bit before writing something down.

"A very wise choice, Miss Hale. And you, Miss Vandom?"

"I'll try Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Care of Magical Creatures, I guess..." she began, and McGonagall frowned at her.

"You don't sound convinced, Miss Vandom." Will twisted her hair between her fingers like she always does when nervous.

"I'm worried about taking too many subjects..." she trailed off, and McGonagall crossed out the final mark she had made on her tablet.

"No Care of Magical Creatures, then. It's just extra time and effort, although I daresay Hagrid will be disappointed..." she said, tapping her wand onto blank timetables, which then filled themselves in with their appropriate classes. The girls took them, and exited while Irma walked in next. Cornelia went outside the office to wait and was immediately attacked by Hermione, who snatched her timetable and Will's and scanned them quickly.

"Ooh, good, we'll have plenty of subjects together. And you're both taking Arithmancy! Finally, some girls with sense! None of that Divination rubbish," she continued excitedly, and Irma then emerged from the office clutching her own timetable.

"Transfiguration, Potions, DADA, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, History of Magic, and Herbology. Not too many, eh?" she joked, although looking a little pale. Hermione gaped a bit.

"Divination? Why?" she managed, and Irma made a contemptuous noise.

"Psh, I have that in the bag. I'm great at scrying," she said, then caught herself as Cornelia and Will glared daggers at her.

"Well, so long as you don't turn out like Parvati and Lavender..." Hermione frowned, looking at the girls in question as they giggled at something Seamus said.

"Ha, there's no way. I have much more self respect," Irma said, and Cornelia snorted loudly, earning a glare from Irma in response.

"Ooh, I'm next!" Hermione squealed, and practically ran into the Professor's office, and Cornelia caught Ron roll his eyes at the back of the line. She emerged a few minutes later with a full timetable and practically bursting with anticipation. "Come on, you two, we have Ancient Runes first period!" she called to Cornelia and Will, who waved Irma along with them since she also needed to get her reached the common room to find Ginny about to leave.

"Ooh, which subjects are you taking, Irma?" the redhead asked, peering at Irma's timetable. Finding that they had many similar classes, Ginny and Irma went back upstairs to get Irma's stuff so they could proceed to first period History of Magic (Ginny warning Irma how boring Professor Binns was). Cornelia darted up the stairs behind Will and Hermione, the latter reaching their room and immediately diving for her books.

"Ok so we have Ancient Runes first," she said, grabbing her book and tossing it into her book bag. Cornelia copied her. "Then after break we have Defense Against the Dark Arts, and then Double Potions this afternoon," Hermione said, grabbing the respective texts for each of the subjects. Cornelia followed suit, and soon enough they were on their way to class.

After an hour of grueling translations of words that seemed to all be the equivalent of Japanese, Cornelia emerged from the Ancient Runes classroom with a load of homework she wondered if she would ever finish.

"A fifteen inch essay, two translations, and we have to read these by Wednesday!" Hermione exclaimed, a bit exasperated. Will huffed under her load of books, trying to gracefully shove them in her bag while walking to break at the same time.

"I think it would be best if we divided up the work and then helped each other on the difficult parts, eh?" Will grumbled, and Cornelia nodded.

"We need to work as a team! Otherwise we'll never get this done!" she said, and Hermione reluctantly nodded.

"I suppose dividing the homework would help... But we should all do it together, in the library tomorrow during our free period, don't you agree?" she said, and the girls nodded as they approached the Common Room. Harry and Ron were sprawled on the couch, looking as relaxed as ever when they successfully made it through the portrait hole. Hermione scowled at them.

"Free period, I assume?" she asked, depositing her books at her feet as she sank into the sofa. Ron grinned, a blissful expression on his face.

"Yes, just relaxation until we have to go to DADA," he sighed, and Hermione folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.

"You'll need this time to do all of your assignments properly," she scolded, and Ron rolled his eyes and sat up from his leaned back position on the couch.

"Honestly, Hermione! Do you have to ruin my day already by reminding me of homework?"

"Ron, I was just saying-"

"I had no need to hear you preaching this early in the year! Hell, it's the first day of term!" he continued, sounding extremely whiny and annoyed. He and Hermione continued to bicker while Cornelia gaped at them.

"Are they always like this?" she heard Will ask Harry, who was doing everything he could to blend into the chair and was doing a fair job of it as his face was somewhat red.

"Yeah..." he answered sheepishly. The sound of his friend's voice brought Ron out of his argument, though, as he next motioned to Harry.

"Come on, let's go to Defense. Break's almost over," he grumbled, leaving a very incensed Hermione still fuming on the couch.

"He's insufferable!" she moaned, pointing toward where the Fat Lady's painting had swung closed as Ron made his exit with Harry. "Absolutely unbelievable!" she said, and Cornelia noticed her eyes were beginning to glisten. She sat down next to her new friend and gave her a comforting one-armed hug.

"You were just trying to help him, too bad for him if he fails his classes. It was a stupid argument," she said, and Hermione smiled gratefully at her.

"Yeah, and don't let him copy off of you. Harry warned me that he'd come back apologizing and then beg you for your essays," Will said, and Hermione's face became resolute.

"This year I refuse to put up with Ronald's pigheadedness. Come on, we'll be late for Snape's class, and that is basically suicide."

o.O.o.O.o

Will followed Hermione and Cornelia to the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom, where Ron, Harry and many other sixth year students from different houses were lining up to get in. Ron ignored them, but Harry gave Hermione a small wave, to which she smiled back, although it was a small one. Suddenly the classroom door swung open, and Professor Snape entered the corridor, his stringy dark hair framing his sallow face.

"Inside," he spoke, and the class filed in. Will's wrinkled her nose in disgust as she entered one of the most unpleasant classrooms she had ever seen. It was dark, all the windows closed, and lit by many eerie candles. Pictures of gruesomely depicted scenarios, such as a woman being tortured or a vampire tearing out the throat of its victim adorned the walls, making Will shiver involuntarily. She took a seat in between Cornelia and Hermione in the middle of the classroom, while Harry and Ron sat with Neville behind them.

"Do not take out your books," Snape began, glaring at Hermione who quickly shoved her copy of Confronting The Faceless back into her bag. Will disliked the man already. "I wish to begin by speaking to you and I want your fullest-" he was interrupted by a loud bang as the door they had just entered flew open again and Will nearly fell out of her seat with shock.

"Sorry I'm late. I couldn't find the classroom because  _someone_  didn't show me." A woman wearing dark purple robes with a red pencil skirt and white blouse had entered the room, her sharp facial features reminding one of a cat, though it was the way she held herself that truly screamed feline. She seemed to prowl gracefully into the room. Her dark purplish short hair was clipped up in a loose bun, her golden catlike eyes scanning the crowd until they settled on Will. Orube's lips twitched up into a half smile, revealing her pointed incisors.

"Forgive me for being so... discourteous. Class, this is Miss Rebecca Rudolph, my... assistant for this class. The Headmaster thought it appropriate that I should train her to help you in this class... As if anything she says would help some of your pathetic minds from grasping the vast concepts you will be learning in this class... Which brings me," he continued, cutting off Orube's attempts to speak in outrage as he put down both her teaching abilities and their own brain capacities "to our earlier discussion."

Will was in shock, and she felt that Cornelia was also gaping at their former Guardian and friend with complete and utter bewilderment. They hadn't seen Orube since Cedric died, leaving their feline friend heartbroken and lost. She had returned to Basiliade, and the Guardians had never seen or heard from her again. Oh yes, Orube would be having some explaining to do. Professor Snape had been talking about various Defense techniques, and Will was attempting to listen to what he was saying without letting her gaze shift to Orube, who was standing next to Snape with a glare etched upon her pretty features.

"...or provoke the aggression of an Inferius," Snape finished, and Will grimaced as he indicated one of the paintings on the walls, one of a bloody corpse on the ground. "The Dark Lord has used them in the past, so it is best to assume he will use them again. Now, we will begin the term with non-verbal spells. What are the disadvantages of a nonverbal spell?" he asked, and Hermione predictably (she had behaved like this during Ancient Runes first period) raised her hand. Snape looked pointedly around the entire classroom before nodding to her.

"Your opponent has no idea of what type of magic you are about to perform, thus you have a split-second advantage," she answered. Snape smiled sourly at her.

"Copied almost word for word from the textbook, but in essentials correct," he replied, and Will felt the outrage seep through her. How could he be so cruel?

"You will now get into pairs and one will practice jinxing the other, while the other will attempt to repel the jinx in equal silence. Begin," he spoke, and there was a small rush as the students divided up into pairs. Will looked at Cornelia, and they partnered up quickly. They had no idea how to even cast a spell out loud, let alone silently.

"I guess we'll have to cheat a bit," she whispered to her blond partner, who smirked. They raised their wands at each other, and Will concentrated on it. Instantly she felt an odd power being channeled as if through her entire soul and then focused at the tip of her wand.

 _'Confundus!'_  her brain thought, and as if out of nowhere a jet of yellowish light barreled out from the tip of her wand at Cornelia, who was hit in the chest by it and suddenly appeared to be extremely confused. Snape walked over to them, his long black robes billowing around him.

"I see you have some expertise with this concept, Mis... Vandom, was it? But does your partner...?" he asked, looking at Cornelia who shook her head a few times to clear it. She gave Snape a fierce look before turning her wand to Will again. Will concentrated, trying to ignore Snape and the other students' stares, who seemed to have stopped their practicing to watch them with open mouths. Orube was observing silently in a corner. Suddenly and without warning, Will felt her legs start to wobble and she crumpled to the ground. Snape raised and eyebrow and turned to Cornelia, who had quickly managed to mask the shocked expression on her face with a neutral one as she stared at her wand. Snape waved his own wand and then Will was able to stand normally again.

"You both, then, have experience casting non-verbal spells? Good. Then I expect you both to successfully repel them by next class. It seems you could use a bit of work where that is concerned..." he smiled acidly and then looked towards his other students. "Did I say to stop working?" he barked, and all immediately went back to their frantic attempts to jinx each other silently. Will noted absently that they were all muttering the incantations quietly out of the corners of their mouths, and that Orube was still frowning in the corner.

"How did we..." Cornelia began, but Will silenced her by putting a finger to her lips and motioning for her to follow. Snape was inspecting a group of Hufflepuffs as they made their way over to Orube.

"Orube! What... How... We have so many questions!" Will gushed in a whisper, and Orube gave her a small smile.

"Hello Will, Cornelia. It has been a while... I'm sorry for not keeping in touch. Professor Dumbledore invited me here to help keep an eye on you, and he figured that this class would be the best for me to 'chaperone' in. I can't talk much now though," she said, nodding towards Snape with a tilt of her head. "But I can speak to you soon. I'll stop by this weekend in the library with you and the others so we can have a proper conversation. Now get back to work," she said, and Will bit her lip as she and Cornelia returned to their spot by Harry and Ron just as Snape turned their way.

He lingered by the two boys, a sneer on his face as he watched them struggle with the task. Ron was beginning to turn a fair shade of purple as he strained to not mutter the incantation, while Harry seemed on edge, waiting for an incantation that just wouldn't come.

"Pathetic. Let me show you how it's done..." Snape said, and he flashed his wand towards Harry, who roared " _Protego!_ " so quickly that Snape was sent toppling back into a desk. He picked himself up and glared at Harry.

"I thought, Potter, that we were practicing non-verbal spells. Am I correct?" he spoke. Harry then mumbled a stony yes, and the ensuing battle of wits with Snape resulted in him gaining a Saturday detention. Will stared openmouthed at Harry's defiant expression, and instantly questioned him the moment they were out of the classroom and on their way to lunch.

"What was that about?" she asked. Ron snorted.

"You were bloody brilliant, mate. Slimy git deserved it," he said, and Hermione frowned reprovingly.

"You really shouldn't have done that, Harry..."

"You saw how fast he went to jinx me! I've gotten enough of that from Occlumency lessons, I'm not having it again!" Harry fumed, and Will gave Cornelia another exasperated look.

"What the heck is an Occlumency lesson?" she asked. Harry turned to her as they reached the Great Hall.

"Last year Snape gave me lessons to help me keep Voldemort from getting inside my head," he began quietly as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. "Apparently when Voldemort tried to kill me when I was a baby he left a connection of sorts in me... and that bit of him was like a door to my brain, and a door to his. It was awful," he said, piling some cold ham and a bowl of soup onto his plate. Will listened with rapt attention, Cornelia following suit. Hermione looked anxious, as if Harry telling this might set something off in the dark haired boy; Ron simply began shoveling food into his mouth.

"He shut the connection for now, though, and I'm thankful I guess he doesn't want me seeing any of his plans... But those lessons last year were extremely tiring, and Snape shows me no pity, he hates me..." he continued, then absently spooned soup into his mouth. Will looked down at her own plate, giving Harry some space. She began to eat, when Irma sat down across from her.

"I'm already going to die. Transfiguration is so difficult!" she whined, and Cornelia rolled her eyes.

"Calm down, you'll be fine. The teachers will help you," she said, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice. Irma sighed.

"But-"

"Hush!" Cornelia said, and Will couldn't help but giggle a little. Her friends argued and bantered about the smallest things, but it was highly entertaining at times (especially their facial expressions). Irma was currently sporting one of triumph, for some reason, but Will quickly found out why.

"Just you wait until you get to N.E.W.T. Transfiguration... Then we'll see who's whining!" she crowed, and took a bite out of her chicken sandwich. Will groaned, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"It shouldn't be that bad, but we'll find out on Thursday I expect," she said, before returning to her tomato soup. Ron was on his fifth meat pie, and she looked at him with an expression of disgust. "Do you ever stop eating?" she asked.

"Nope," he mumbled through a mouthful of pie, so it actually came out sounding closer to "Nopfe," which resulted in the three Gryffindor Guardians and Harry snickering.

Will smiled as she looked up from hr food, a sudden motion catching her eye. It was Draco Malfoy, the blond git from the train, and he was getting up from the Slytherin table and hastily exiting the Great Hall. Hermione followed her gaze with a frown, her eyes quickly flicking over towards Harry. Harry seemed to have noticed it too, for he frowned. Will stared at the blond, and as if he could feel it, his grey eyes suddenly met her own. She narrowed her eyes as he sneered at her, then exited the Hall without a further backward glance. Will huffed and returned to her food, wondering why his sneer seemed a bit out of place, like a mask about to slip off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Six: Complete!
> 
> For now, Cornelia and Will's perspectives seem dominant, but as the story progresses there will be more of the others. Harry Potter does, after all, stick extremely closely to Harry (and the two of them do so happen to be in his year).
> 
> Comments are always welcome :)


	7. Potions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Potions class proves to be a rather heated experience, in more ways than one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of Nov. 2017, I have gone through this fic and touched up some plot points that bothered me, as well as attempting to fix any errors I can find in general. Refurbished to the best of my ability, here is the new and improved story, which I hope to continue to completion.
> 
> Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling; W.I.T.C.H. was created by Elisabetta Gnone. I do not own either of these works, I'm just having some fun in their worlds for a while.
> 
> Author's Note at the end may answer some of your questions, but for now, enjoy!

After they had finished with their food, they proceeded on all together towards the doors of the Great Hall in order to go to their next lesson, which would turn out to be Arithmancy for Hermione, Will, and Cornelia while Ron and Harry had another free period before they would all get to go to N.E.W.T. level potions with Professor Slughorn. As they exited, however, a small and unremarkable looking boy ran over to them and thrust a scroll of parchment in Harry's hand.

"Hey, Harry, this is from Professor Dumbledore, he also told me that I'd probably find a Will and Cornelia with you..." he trailed off, analyzing the two Guardians before handing the scroll to Will.

"Thanks, Jack," Harry said, staring at his own scroll intently, yet looking a little curious as to why Will and Cornelia got one as well.

"When were you going to be holding Quidditch tryouts? I was hoping next weekend if that's ok..." the boy called Jack said a little eagerly. Harry waved him off, which caused Cornelia to think that maybe he wasn't one of the best players in the bunch if Harry was so dismissive.

"Yeah, I'll let you know ok? I gotta go..." he said, absently speeding up ahead of everyone else; the girls shot themselves an exasperated look (which was becoming rather common) as Ron had already managed to catch up to Harry with his long legs.

"What's Dumbledore want?" Ron said curiously. Will unrolled the scroll in her own hands just as Harry finished unrolling his.

"Private lessons," they said simultaneously, although Harry sounded excited and Will sounded much more like she expected it. The Golden Trio stared at the two Guardians skeptically; Will gave them a sheepish grin in return.

"We need to catch up on a lot of material that we didn't have covered over the past few years... Dumbledore and the professors are going to help us out" Cornelia offered. Hermione nodded, accepting this explanation.

"If they give you any tips on how to bypass certain methods of doing things, please share!" Ron said; Hermione glared at him, although the gleam in her eye said that she might not have hated the idea all that much.

"Will do! No worries," Will said with a laugh, tucking the scroll into her pocket. "I'm sure the other girls got their notes too, but just in case we should sit with them later and discuss things," she continued. At this point they had reached where they spilt off into their two groups, boys heading back up to the Tower with the intent of starting their homework from Snape whilst the girls went to Professor Vector's classroom.

This class turned out to be fascinatingly difficult, especially for Will who for most of her life loathed numbers (and numerology is one of the main utensils put to use in this particular subject); in this class, however, it was not as horrible as regular math, and Will found herself enjoying the subject despite appreciating how difficult it was going to be. Both Guardians felt like once again they'd be relying on Hermione for help until they were caught up on 3 years worth of previous knowledge.

Once they finished, they headed back to the common room where they found the boys struggling with their homework from Snape; when they all sat down and put their minds together, however, the process seemed to speed up considerably. They had managed to finish the work just as the bell sounded, and so they packed up their stuff in order to head down to the dungeons for potions class. Once they arrived, they saw that very few seemed to have advanced into this class; Hermione hung back a bit with the girls in order to fill them in on their new classmates.

"That's Terry Boot, he's best friends with Michael Corner and Anthony Goldstein who are both standing next to him... They're all really book smart but beyond that I'm not sure... Stephen Cornfoot is next to them too, he's rather quiet from what I can tell. Su Li is in our Arithmancy class, too... Oh, that's Padma Patil; Parvati's her twin, she's in our dorm," she began, pointing out the Ravenclaws who were chattering excitedly at the prospect of a new teacher.

"Over there are the Slytherins; that's Daphne Greengrass, she's rather snobbish but all around keeps to herself. Pansy Parkinson is next to her, she's one of the most foul people I've ever met, I don't know how she managed to get into this course... That's Blaise Zabini, he's one of the Slytherin Quidditch players and he's friends with Draco Malfoy, who you've already met," she said, giving Will a pointed look "and Theodore Nott, who also was known to try out for Quidditch every while and again."

Cornelia stiffened, trying to not show that she was bothered or interested in the boy with the green eyes who was standing looking rather bored as Pansy and Daphne attempted to include him in what seemed to be a mind-numbingly useless conversation; he caught her eye just then, and she turned away maybe a little too quickly. She saw a flash of a smile and his eyes light up before she had succeeded in breaking eye contact, however.

"And this is Ernie Macmillan," Hermione finished, introducing them to the solitary Hufflepuff to have made it into N.E.W.T. this year. He smiled and shook their hands.

"Pleased to meet the both of you! I believe you are two of Hay Lin's friends, am I correct?" he said. Cornelia arched her eyebrows in somewhat pleased surprise.

"Yes, I'm glad to hear that she's making friends!" she replied, and Ernie smiled at her again. Also in N.E.W.T. Potions were Seamus and Dean from their own House, who looked a little bewildered and not quite sure if they wanted to be there. The doors opened then, and they filed inside. The desks were four to a table, so there was a bit of a scramble in order to all sit with some sense of House unity.

Terry, Michael, and Anthony sat with Padma Patil at one table while Stephen and Su sat with Dean and Seamus at one other. Ernie had somehow managed to weasel his way in next to Hermione which left him sitting with Harry and Ron as well at another. Will and Cornelia resigned themselves to sitting alone at another table, only to be joined shortly after by none other than Theodore Nott.

"Mind if I sit? Unfortunately my table is full," he said with a bit of a smirk. Cornelia stiffly nodded her head while Will pinched her under the table; it was becoming hard for the redhead to contain her own amusement. The other Slytherins, namely Pansy and Daphne, looked scandalized. The only one without much of an expression on his face was Draco Malfoy, who looked almost as bored as Theo had earlier. He only spared a smallish sneer towards Will, who returned it before rolling her eyes and looking away. Even the Gryffindors seemed to think it odd; Ron was gaping at the girls, while Harry was glancing suspiciously from both Theo towards Malfoy. Hermione seemed more focused on her textbook, though her ears were pink.

Just then, Professor Slughorn made his appearance. "Ah! Welcome, class, so good to have so many young minds for me to preen! Now come come, look here... I've prepared a very special lesson for you today!" Before he could continue, however, he had spotted Harry. "Harry, m'boy! So good to see you! Anything you need just ask, hm?" he said; Cornelia arched her eyebrows at this preferential treatment.

"Um, yeah, Professor... Actually Ron and I weren't planning on taking Potions so we don't have our books or supplies," Harry said rather awkwardly. Instead of berating them, Slughorn simply waved them off to grab spare ingredients and books from the store cupboard. There seemed to be a brief scuffle over the books that the professor was oblivious to, and Cornelia saw Ron emerge victorious with the newer copy of Advanced Potions Making while Harry scowled, returning to his seat with a battered and worn looking copy.

"I've got quite a few lovely little concoctions up here for you already, to test your knowledge..." Slughorn continued, gesturing to the four cauldrons that Cornelia had failed to notice were already brewed and emitting odd smells and vapours; she supposed she was too occupied by the fact that Theodore Nott seemed to have taken an interest in her and was currently still staring at her.

"Now, let's see, can any of you tell me what this one might be?" Slughorn asked, and to no one's surprise Hermione's hand shot up. He nodded at her, and she proceeded to name off the potions in each cauldron to the professor's incredulity and the rest of the class' seemingly expecting this sort of thing. Cornelia didn't quite know what Veritaserum, Polyjuice Potion, or Amortentia were but she supposed that they weren't quite common potions or perhaps more students would have guessed them. In any case Hermione managed to earn their house five points for her knowledge.

"What's in that one, sir?" Ernie asked, pointing out the last one. Cornelia suspected that Slughorn had purposefully left it out in order to increase the suspense and dramatize its contents.

"This? Ah... but Miss Granger knows the answer, of course!" he said, as Hermione's hand shot up into the air again.

"Felix Felicis! Or as most know it, Liquid Luck!"

"Quite right, Miss Granger, take another five points for Gryffindor!" the old walrus chortled. He then proceeded to bustle over to the middle of the room before addressing them seriously. "That is the prize I offer today... One vial of Felix Felicis to the student that manages to brew a successful Draught of the Living Death! The recipe of which can be found on page twenty six of your book... Good luck!" With that the class sprang into action, and Cornelia flipped her book open to the designated page and began measuring ingredients as if she were baking a rather odd cake at home.

"So, I saw you earlier in Arithmancy... Didn't realize you were so down to earth and practical," Theodore suddenly began speaking to her in a casual tone. She narrowed her eyes but didn't turn to face him, concentrating hard on the task at hand.

"I guess you could say I'm a bit more grounded than you thought," Cornelia replied, a little alarmed at his choice of words as her powers were exactly those; she was also concerned that she hadn't noticed him at all in their Arithmancy class... Perhaps he had come in late, and had been sitting behind her in a dark corner? She definitely would have remembered seeing him, that's for sure.

As it happened, they were brewing a potion that Cornelia found no real difficulty in making; perhaps this was due to her affinity with herbs and such things in general, but she shook off the stirring emotions in her system brought on by surges in power and concentrated on her work. She began cutting up her valerian roots in precise slices, not distracted in the least by Malfoy's attempts to kiss up to Professor Slughorn by flaunting his family name at him (although it was rather funny when the Professor simply brushed him off; she thought she even saw Theo smirk a bit, which was saying something as he was so focused on getting her attention it seemed). Will snorted audibly when she caught sight of Malfoy's downtrodden features at his failures, and he glared at her in response.

Cornelia's potion after a little while was closest only to Hermione's; both were the 'smooth, blackcurrant-coloured liquid' that the book mentioned as the ideal halfway stage. Will's looked rather like a molasses-like substance that became harder and harder to stir every time she tried. She then grabbed a Sopophorous bean and attempted to slice through it with her knife. It skidded right out of her hand and over onto Theo's workstation; he smirked at her before plucking it from in front of him and depositing it in her hands. With annoyance she noted that his potion also looked rather correct and on the right path to a successful completion. She whirled back over to her spot and attempted to grip the bean firmly before slicing into it, and when that didn't work once more she wanted to cry out in frustration.

She poked her head around Will's (who also happened to be having trouble with the bean) to see what Hermione was doing, only to be disappointed in seeing that her bushy-haired roommate was also struggling. Interestingly, however, Harry Potter suddenly turned his blade on its side and pressed down. Cornelia turned back to her own bean, glaring at it; resolute and determined, even if the instructions specified to cut it, she crushed the bean with the side of her silver knife. It exuded so much juice that she almost had trouble collecting all of it to pour into her cauldron. As she finished doing this, however, her concentration was broken as Will gave her a weird look and mouthed 'did it work?' to which Cornelia shrugged and nodded. She noticed Theo also staring at her with a funny look on his face before opening his mouth again.

"Why'd you crush it? That's not in the book."

"I find it helps release the juice better, nothing more," she stated quickly, thinking perhaps that if she acted superior and knowledgeable of what she was doing that he would be so awed into silence that he stayed that way.

With a small smile towards Will she turned back to her potion which had changed from the 'deep purple' to the shade of lilac the book was describing. She then followed the book's steps of 'stirring counter-clockwise until the potion turned as clear as water' but the potion only barely seemed to cooperate. Frustratedly she looked over to see what Hermione was doing, and she was struggling right along with the rest of the class. Harry, however, was not. He was adding what seemed to be a clockwise stir after each counter-clockwise one, and the potion progressed as it should have. Cornelia held her breath before trying out this newest development; she added a clockwise stir after every seventh stir... Once she did this, her potion turned palest pink.

She then kept her eyes on Harry Potter discreetly, wondering if he would follow the instructions differently from the book and keep getting it right. Also there was something that simply pulled her towards agreeing with his change in direction; was it her earth magic reacting with the magical potions components? In many ways it just felt right to her to take certain actions, and the thought rather than scaring her thrilled her to the core.

She was interrupted again by Theo, who had noticed her change in stirring too; as she turned to look at him, flustered for a moment, she slipped up and skipped over her extra clockwise stir for this round. Cursing under her breath, she bit her lip as the potion remained pale pale pink but did not progress further into the 'clear as water' phase that it required to be perfect.

"Thanks, you idiot!" she hissed as she kept stirring, knowing however that the rhythm had been broken and her potion would perhaps go slightly lighter pink at the most. Harry Potter, however, was progressing with a somewhat bewildered smile on his face, much to the chagrin of those at his table.

"And time's... up!" called out Slughorn, motioning for them to stop stirring. He passed by the Slytherin table first, merely nodding or letting out little sounds of approval. Daphne's potion was given a sniff and a smallish tut, while Draco and Blaise merely got a nod each. Pansy's wasn't deemed worthy of Slughorn's vocal cords, it seemed, which caused Michael Corner and Terry Boot to snicker. Once Slughorn had reached their table, he pronounced the Ravenclaw's collective potions as 'exceeds expectations.' Seamus had managed to blow up his cauldron, but was awarded a 'dreadful' anyway for trying; Dean was spared a small pitying smile from the old potions master. The other Ravenclaws of course got some of the top marks in the class as well. Theo's lilac potion was pronounced 'acceptable' once he reached their table; he peered into her cauldron, then, and his eyes widened.

"Good gracious, Miss Hale, this is extraodinary! Outstanding, yes, but will you win the prize...? I must check all the rest!" he chortled, and Cornelia nodded graciously; ignoring the looks she got from the Slytherins, Ravenclaws, and her own Housemates, she didn't hear how Will had done as she looked over Slughorn's rotund figure in order to see how the other Gryffindors (and Hufflepuff Ernie Macmillan, who had sat with them) had done. She narrowed her eyes as she saw Harry's potion, knowing full well that he would be the winner.

Slughorn looked into Ron's cauldron and gave a rueful smile at the tarlike substance he found within; Hermione's he deemed as 'exceeds expectations' with a large smile, while he simply passed over Ernie Macmillan's navy colored potion. Upon reaching Harry's, however, a look of delight crossed his portly features.

"The clear winner!" he proclaimed, and then began to go on about how Harry's mother had also been 'a dab hand' at Potions. At this point Cornelia simply ladled a bit of her potion into a flask, corked it, and then started packing up. She was frustrated at not winning Slughorn's little prize, yet she had a feeling the Potions Professor was much more inclined to take a liking to her this school year after she improved and learned a bit more from Dumbledore and McGonagall on previous material. As she finished, she caught sight of Theo making his way back to the other Slytherins, not before shooting her another glance as his lips turned up into a small smile.

"So that royally sucked," Will said with a huff as they made their way back to the Great Hall for dinner. Harry seemed in a lot better spirits in general, and as they all sat down for dinner he explained what had happened to him in a hushed tone.

"It was my potions book! I promise, it really had the instructions in it differently... Although it was the previous owner that changed it up, he wrote new instructions in the margins and over the real ones. They actually work too!" The entire time he explained things, Hermione's face became rather cold and unpleasantly stony. Will simply looked a bit bewildered at everything, while Ron seemed to be trying to work through it all.

"I bet you think that's cheating then, hm?" Harry shot at Hermione.

"Nah, he just had different directions is all! He could have blown himself up like Seamus does every year, but it all worked out... Of course I get the book that nobody's ever done anything but puke on, by the looks of page fifty-two..." Ron said with a wistful tone, cutting Hermione off before she had a chance to speak. At this point Irma and Ginny had shown up, taking seats next to them.

"Wait a second... You're taking orders from a book?" the Weasley girl interjected, shooting Harry a fierce and protective look.

"It's not what you think! It's just an old textbook someone's wrote in, nothing like Riddle's diary..." he replied in a low voice. Cornelia shot Will a look, knowing from their talk with Irma and Hay Lin a few days before that Riddle was also known as Lord Voldemort.

"But you're doing what it tells you to?" Ginny shot back.

"Just following along some tips in the margins, there's nothing weird about it... hey!" Hermione had snatched the book out of Harry's hands and had whipped her wand out.

"We ought to check and make sure nothing really is off with this book...  _Specialis Revelio!_ " she said, and with a flick of her wand... nothing happened.

"See? I told you!" Harry retorted, grabbing the book back but dropping it on the floor. Cornelia and Harry both leant down in order to pick it up, but Harry got there first. Not in time for her to miss the writing on the inside of the front cover, however.

_This Book is the Property of the Half-Blood Prince_

She locked eyes with Harry, who shook his head slightly in order to plead with her to keep it a secret. She bit her lip but nodded to show she would... for now.

o.O.o.O.o

Taranee sat in front of Professor Flitwick that morning to receive her classes; at the time she seemed to think her choices were decent, as she had decided to take Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes as her electives along with the required Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Divination, Astronomy and Herbology.

Looking back, she thought that maybe it was a bit much for one person. She had sat through a ridiculously difficult lecture on vanishing spells in Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs; she had gotten to spend time with Hay Lin in there, and she figured that she'd be seeing her a lot this year as they had compared timetables and they shared many classes. They had proceeded to a Herbology class together, where they basically tried to keep up with Luna and what she did, although they soon learned that this was a bad idea as Luna really basically did her own thing.

Now Taranee sat with Luna at the Ravenclaw table for dinner, looking over towards the Gryffindor table where most of her friends were a bit wistfully. She was deeply fascinated by all of the new subjects she was taking, and a little overwhelmed too due to the prospect of O.W.L.s coming up, yet something still felt as if it were missing. Oh, right. Her friends.

She glanced over to the Gryffindor table again, where suddenly she made eye contact with Ginny. The redhead smiled widely at her and waved, then nudged her brother (a bit too harshly as he choked on his chicken) and they chatted briefly before they both stood up. Taranee's eyes widened as Ron started walking over her way whilst Ginny headed over to the Hufflepuff table. Her fellow Ravenclaws stared at her a bit as the redhead reached her; he smiled awkwardly.

"Ginny says you should come eat with us for dessert, be with your friends yeah? I think she's spot on," he said, nudging his head towards the red and gold table. Taranee noticed that Hay Lin had already followed Ginny over and was waving at a few of her newfound friends in Hufflepuff, who didn't really seem to mind that she was leaving. She stood up and followed Ron, heart in her throat; she hoped that her Housemates wouldn't think she preferred the Gryffindors over them, as the fact of the matter was that she simply didn't know them all. As a second thought, however, she turned to Luna.

"You coming?" she asked with a small smile. Luna looked at her, her orb-like eyes widening a bit before she grinned and stood up to follow her. Ron rolled his eyes and hissed "Why'd you invite Loony?" which earned him an elbow in the ribs from Taranee. He grinned sheepishly at her. Once they reached the Gryffindors, Taranee took a seat between Luna and Ron (which would up being not too much space to breathe in) across from Will who brightened at the sight of her friend.

"Hey! I'm glad you're here, we've got loads to tell you..."

As three new people had suddenly invaded the space, the Gryffindor table was rather packed; Luna was sitting next to Dean Thomas, who looked a bit uncomfortable but engaged in the conversation he was having with her and Ginny. Hay Lin wound up squashed in between Harry and Cornelia, and across from them were Irma, Will, and Hermione.

"Well this is cozy!" Hermione interjected a with a hint of awkwardness to her voice as she anxiously checked to make sure that the teachers wouldn't yell at them for this particular indiscretion. As Taranee followed her gaze, knowing that if they got in trouble she and Luna and Hay Lin would be the ones in the hot seat, she let out a gasp.

"But... But that's..."

"Yes, I know!" Will cut her off before she could say anything more. "Professor Rudolph... er, well, Rebecca that is. She's Professor Snape's assistant!"

"Since when?" Irma asked, alarmed at this new development. "And what on earth is she assisting him with?"

"I assume she's going to make sure he doesn't delve too deeply into the Dark Arts part of that class and focuses on the Defense," Harry muttered darkly. "Why, d'you know her from somewhere?"

"You could say that," Hay Lin replied, biting her lip at all the memories (many unpleasant ones at that) that flooded her system.

"We'll have to catch up with her sometime this weekend," Will said with an air of finality which tipped Taranee and the others off that it would definitely be happening.  _'In the library this weekend, she told us to meet her to talk about things... Oh, and Dumbledore's meeting is on Friday at 8, Cornelia and I got the note earlier'_   Will said through the telepathic link to the girls, who all nodded. Ron gave Taranee a weird look.

"What was that about? You looked pretty mental there for a second... all nodding at the same time..." Taranee smirked, turning away as his face was somewhat close due to their squashed situation at the table. She could hear Luna regaling Dean (and a somewhat bored Ginny, as she had heard this story before) of the time she and her father went fishing for freshwater Plimpies and she got covered in head to toe in sap from a nearby  _Mimbulus Mimbletonia_.

"You have no idea," Taranee replied with a smirk, while Ron simply looked at her only more confused than before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Seven: Complete!
> 
> Another important exposition into the courses and how the Guardians seem to be faring.
> 
> Comment if you please! :)


	8. Tryouts, Letters, & Orube's Tale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hay Lin tries out for the Quidditch Team, Irma gets a letter, and the Guardians finally catch up with Orube.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of Nov. 2017, I have gone through this fic and touched up some plot points that bothered me, as well as attempting to fix any errors I can find in general. Refurbished to the best of my ability, here is the new and improved story, which I hope to continue to completion.
> 
> Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling; W.I.T.C.H. was created by Elisabetta Gnone. I do not own either of these works, I'm just having some fun in their worlds for a while.
> 
> Author's Note at the end may answer some of your questions, but for now, enjoy!

Hay Lin found that she was slowly adapting to the lifestyle brought about by this new change in, well, everything she was used to. Not getting to see her closest friends all the time had its drawbacks, of course, but she decided to take her Grandma's advice and the whole branching out to meet new people really wasn't too bad. She got along quite well with Hannah Abbott, who was a year older than her but seemed to have taken a liking to her instantly. Hay Lin emerged from the rounded door that led to her room in the Hufflepuff dormitories and headed to the Common Room where she found the blonde waiting for her.

"Are you nervous?" she asked, and Hay Lin fiddled a bit with her pigtails in response. Hannah laughed. "Come on, we can't miss it! I know you'll do great, you're agile and tiny so they'll probably make you a Chaser!" They were in fact headed over to the Quidditch tryouts that afternoon, as most of Hufflepuff had Thursday off (save the first years and second years). Hay Lin had decided to try out a while ago, before even knowing what House she was going to be in. She voiced these thoughts aloud to Hannah as they walked.

"Yeah, I hope I get in. I played over at the Weasley's this summer and I really enjoyed it. If it's any help to my chances, my team beat Harry, Ron, and George's..." she said, remembering that day fondly. Hannah's eyes went round.

"Really? They were all on the Gryffindor team last year and they're all really good! If you make the Hufflepuff team this time... We might actually do pretty well this season!" Hannah said excitedly. At this point, Ernie Macmillan had waved at them and walked over to join them.

"Headed for tryouts?" he asked with a smile. The girls nodded.

"Hay Lin's going to try out for Chaser, I think she might do really well if what she's been telling me is true!" Hannah said, and then she recounted the tale back to Ernie who also looked pleased.

"If you do get on, you'll have to knock that git Zacharias down a peg or two... Or off his broom, actually. He's really been getting on my nerves!" Ernie voiced with an exasperated sigh. Hannah snickered while Hay Lin shook her head fiercely.

"I can't do that to someone on my own team! We might lose a game!" she laughed. Ernie shrugged his shoulders.

"Ah, there's always practice!"

They continued laughing a joking with each other as they reached the pitch where many hopefuls were now gathered while the spectators headed to the stands. Hay Lin looked up to see Irma, Will, and Harry also up there. She waved at them, grateful for more friends having come to watch her either make it or break a bone. Once Hannah and Ernie had left to go join Harry in the stands, Hay Lin walked over to the supplies station and chose a set of fingerless gloves, knee and elbow pads, and snapped a pair of goggles on her head for good measure. She remained eccentric in her fashion statements despite everything, and felt much more herself with a pair of good, quirky googles to accentuate that she expressed herself no matter what situation.

She grabbed one of the school brooms, a Cleansweep Seven by the looks of it, and decided that it was now or never. She would buy all of the equipment herself if she made the team, of course, but she wanted to be practical and save money where she could. She made her way over to the group of Hufflepuffs trying out for Chaser and stood next to Zacharias Smith, who gave her a once over and then sneered.

"Oh great, the new girl. Why don't you try out for the Gryffindor team since it looks like you prefer them over us?" he said unpleasantly. Hay Lin bristled.

"Because Hufflepuff is my House too! You just wait and see, you'll be eating your words momentarily, Smith," she countered, ending with a cheery smile that baffled the boy. Justin Finch-Fletchley shifted over from his spot in the Beater's tryout group and patted her on the back. "Please make good on that promise, I'm dying to see his face!" he grinned at her, before turning back to his spot for the Beater's tryouts were about to start.

Hay Lin watched as the Captain, Summerby, instructed them all to hit the oncoming bludgers at various targets that he would conjure for them to aim at. She was impressed by how Justin was doing, and would cheer and clap for him when he managed to hit things dead on. In the end, the Beaters were chosen; Justin and a third-year girl called Laura Madley who was a bit shrimpy but had impeccable aim.

Next were the Chasers; Hay Lin mounted her broom at Summerby's instruction with her heart in her throat. They all took off then, and the second her feet left the ground Hay Lin felt her worries disappear. She was the Guardian of Air, she was in her element! She zoomed around the pitch, leaving all the others a fair ways behind her while making time to perform some spontaneous aerial movements that deviated from the 'set' course. She heard a few whoops and cheers from the stands, but she ignored it all for the feel of the wind on her face and her body rushing through the air.

"Ok! Ok! Stop!" Summerby called out, and Hay Lin reluctantly halted rather gracefully in midair, maneuvering her broom back over to the group of the other Chaser hopefuls. Zacharias Smith was squinting at her, not quite sure what to think of her performance it seemed. "I want you all to pass the Quaffle to one another while the Beaters try to interfere and the Keeper blocks you... and try scoring some goals ok? We'll do it in twos... Cadwallader, Lin, you first. The rest of you try to block it out as if you were Chasers from another team, yeah?"

Hay Lin nodded to her new partner, a big boy with light brown hair who seemed friendly but quite focused on what he was doing. When Summerby called the play to begin, he shot off towards the goalhoops like lightning and she zoomed right along with him. Smith was on her instantly, trying to block her from the pass that Cadwallader kept attempting to make. With a little laugh, Hay Lin whirled around him in an amazing somersault on her broom and grabbed the Quaffle from Cadwallader, who seemed quite impressed. She then sped over to the goalhoops and took the shot, sending the red ball through the top hoop while the Keeper had dodged to the left.

' _Yes! Take that, Smith,_ ' she thought to herself, turning around on her broom in order to smile cheerily at the other Hufflepuff. He looked about ready to fall off his broom, without any physical help as Ernie had asked her for. They tried another play then, where this time Hay Lin started off with the Quaffle and managed to pass it to Cadwallader with ease as he was being shadowed by a small looking fourth-year boy who seemed a bit too nervous about getting close to the larger boy.

He scored a goal as well, whooping loudly as he did so and flying over to give Hay Lin a quick high-five while Smith's face turned even more sour with disbelief. The next play resulted in another goal from Cadwallader, and finally Hay Lin had another chance to score as well. Before she could take the shot, however, Zacharias came barreling into her from the side, nudging her just enough to where her aim was off.

' _Shoot!_ ' she thought, and before she had a second thought, she felt her powers surge up and flare from her outstretched arm, causing a small push in the wind that scooted the flying Quaffle just enough to the left to where it would not have hit the side of the hoop and bounced off like it was supposed to. Instead, it soared through the hoop dead center. The Keeper was bewildered, as he had obviously seen Zacharias coming and had thought it unnecessary to guard his goalhoops more carefully.

"And that's it for you two!" Summerby called out, delighted. He then proceeded to switch up the order, to where Hay Lin and Cadwallader now shadowed other applicants (including Smith at one point) until all the others had tried out. Hay Lin had to admit unfortunately that Smith really was a good flier, and sorely resisted the temptation to send another gust of wind his way that could send him toppling off his broom just like Ernie had suggested.

"And that's a wrap!" Summerby said excitedly. He called out his choices for Chaser, then, and Hay Lin held her breath. "Cadwallader!" Okay, she knew that one was coming and she sent him a smile which he returned, proceeding to then fist pump. "Lin!" She let out a yell of triumph, a surge in happiness at having made the team overcoming her and causing her to do a backflip on her broom. Summerby laughed. "I've really got to get you to teach the team a thing or two, where on earth did you learn to fly like that?" She blushed.

"I guess you could say I'm a natural in the Air," she replied, chuckling a bit at her little joke that only she and the girls would have gotten. Summerby nodded, shaking his head with another small chuckle himself.

"I can tell! Anyway, last Chaser is Smith! And that's it for tryouts, everyone, we'll meet again for practice as soon as I get everyone's schedules and the other teams are sorted out!" Hay Lin groaned a bit as she saw Zacharias Smith's triumphant look, and as they descended back to the ground she resolutely made a point to avoid him.

"Hey... Hay... I mean, Hay Lin. Hey." Zacharias had walked over to her despite all this, running a hand through his blonde hair and seeming a bit embarrassed, actually. "You were actually quite good. Sorry about before... Just make sure you stay this way and help us win!" A bit shocked, but also pleased that she'd be getting along with her teammates more, Hay Lin smiled genuinely at him.

o.O.o.O.o

That Friday, Irma received her first letter from George. She was eating her breakfast normally, which meant inhaling all of the delicious french toast that appeared by magic on the golden plates in front of her; the owls were circling overhead as they normally do, but this one made a beeline for her of all people. It dropped a ridiculously florescent lime green and blue envelope in her lap, which she snatched up eagerly. It read, ' _To my Lady Irma Lair_ ' which tipped her off instantly as to the sender. She grinned broadly, ripping it open and ignoring some of the other students who seemed to recognize the envelope design as a WWW thing and were curious as to its contents.

"Oooh, is that from George?" Cornelia teased, and Irma simply elbowed her out of the way.

"Nose down, Corny. This is my letter and I'm reading it first!" she squawked playfully. She would no doubt show it to Ginny and Hay Lin later to gossip about the contents, especially since Ginny would know how to interpret the words more as he was in fact one of her brothers.

' _My dearest Lady Irma_ ' it began in a surprisingly legible handwriting, ' _How I miss you so! I couldn't wait to send you something, and I couldn't wait for you to send ME something, so I beat you to it. I'm hoping you got in to Gryffindor, it's the best House of the four if you ask me. I'm assuming you'll be getting a Hogsmeade visit table soon, and once you do please inform me with supreme urgency as I must plan for our next encounter._

_In all seriousness, however, I really do enjoy your company and wish many happy things upon your stay at Hogwarts... You're one of the brightest and bubbliest fun girls I've ever met, and that's saying something since fun is my business by trade!_

_If Peeves gives you or your friends any trouble, simply remind him that you are friends with none other than George Weasley and that you'd be happy to pull a prank with him, rather than be pranked, and he should leave you alone._

_I await your response with bated breath! (But seriously, I'm holding my breath, so hurry up and reply!)_

_Yours always and forever,_

_Sir George'_

Irma had laughed, smiled, and actually blushed at some points of the letter. It was her first true 'love' letter if she really wanted to consider it that way, as George had poured his heart out to her and basically asked her out on a date. Now, she was getting ahead of herself a bit perhaps but she didn't care. After her breakup with Joel and later with Stephen, she had wanted to play the field and remain single and flirtatious with many different guys; George was rapidly changing that perspective and she was completely okay with it.

She then pulled a bit of parchment out from her bag and grabbed a quill (one of those self-filling ones, so she wouldn't make a mess with the ink all the time... Even if she had the power to control liquids, she was lazy and somewhat proud of it) and promptly began scratching out a reply. She told him of Hogwarts, what classes she had and already hated, that she indeed had managed to get into Gryffindor and expected a full blown red-and-gold themed party from him the next time she saw him. She also, more importantly, expressed that she couldn't wait to go to Hogsmeade with him whenever that chance presented itself.

Later that day, however, Irma was a bit nervous about the lesson they were to have that night with Dumbledore, and she was sure her four friends weren't feeling all that ready either. She sat at the Gryffindor table at dinner shoving some potatoes in her mouth a bit numbly, but not enough so that she looked like her appetite had changed. Cornelia still looked a bit grossed out as she daintily munched on some bread with diced tomatoes on top, while Hermione simply looked from Irma to Ron and back again seemingly deciding that there was no difference between them. The Water Guardian looked over at Will, who seemed deeply concentrated on something and not eating anything at all. Irma smirked a bit, knowing the probable cause of this.

Earlier that day, Irma was complaining to Will about how she was unable to listen to her iPod (and her favorite Karmilla songs) since the magical interference of Hogwarts prevented electronics from working. The rest of their afternoon was spent up in Will's dorm room, where the two Guardians experimented with their own magic and the wands in order to pop some electronic outlets into existence, where they could charge their phones and music players. Will had told Irma that her mother was probably going to try texting or calling her at some point, so in order to keep suspicion low the idea was a good one; they had succeeded, mostly in part due to Will and her affinity with anything to do with electric energy. Irma had provided support and used her own powers in order to add fluidity and motion to the energy waves that would need to circulate the castle and affect their stuff.

"Sweet! It's working!" she had exclaimed when Karmilla's album started blasting through her headphones. "I could never have studied without her..." she dramatized. Will had been focusing hard, however, when suddenly her eyes flashed pink and she let out a little gasp. A burst of energy had seemed to surge through her, and suddenly a beep sounded from what looked like Hermione's trunk. Irma rushed over to it and opened it, only to see that Hermione's cell phone, the one that she must have always used only in the Muggle world, had come to life and was receiving text messages.

"Eep!" Irma yelped, grabbing it and pushing the red off button quickly before slamming it back in the trunk. "Will, what did you do?" she asked the Guardian of Energy. Will was clutching her head with both hands now, muttering some choice curse words under her breath.

"Um, I think I managed to activate all the electronic devices that Hogwarts' magical field was suppressing... You know, Muggleborns like Hermione or even Half-Bloods who have a cell phone or something. I'm trying to get it back to where it was before," she groaned, working through her magic it seemed with incredible effort. Irma set to work to help, deciding to pull back some of the non-physical 'waves' she had created that expanded their magic around the entirety of the castle. Fighting off Hogwarts' magic was extremely taxing, and it felt like a bit of a weight on her brain was pressing down every time she did something.

"Let's just limit this field to Gryffindor Tower, and if Taranee and Hay Lin need anything they can come up here and connect to the Will-fi in your room," Irma joked. Will glared at her but nodded, retracting most of her magic as her hands glowed pink and absorbed back the energy they had cast out.

"Guardian magic and Hogwarts magic don't exactly mix well," Will had said then, pushing her trunk in front of the newly created outlet to conceal it from the rest of her roommates. She did this using her wand, looking rather pleased with herself.

"I think you mean they mix TOO well, since that was pretty epic if you think about it," Irma countered, pocketing her working iPod with a smile.

Now that their little adventure was over, however, Irma had noticed on her way to dinner a few clusters of obviously Muggleborn or Half-Blood students whispering and holding up CD players or iPods like her own and insisting that it had worked briefly that day. Shooting a look to Will now as she sat at dinner, she grinned sheepishly. Will bit her lip, a little peeved at all the energy she had exhausted but mostly happy that they had succeeded and gotten away with this experiment from what Irma could tell. Once they had finished with dinner, the three Gryffindor Guardians met with Hay Lin and Taranee outside the Great Hall and followed the familiar path back to Dumbledore's office. The stone gargoyle surveyed them without moving, awaiting the password.

"Acid Pops," Will stated clearly. The gargoyle leaped to the side and revealed the moving spiral staircase up to the Headmaster's office; the five Guardians climbed on one by one and ascended up to the front door. Will reached out her hand and knocked firmly.

"Come in!" Dumbledore's voice was heard a bit muffled through the door, and before Will could open it it swung on its hinges all by itself. Irma followed her into the room, taking it in once more as she had only been in there one time thus far. She suspected that she'd get to know the room rather well, however, as they were to meet with him once a week.

"Good evening, girls. I trust you are enjoying your time at Hogwarts?" the Headmaster said from his post behind his desk. The girls mumbled a mixture of positive responses, to which he smiled at them. "Then let's get down to business, shall we? We'll begin with first year level academics and progress forward from there. I will be giving you a broader perspective and take on these incantations and facts; when you meet with your professors you will no doubt go into further detail, perhaps more specifically within their own magical discipline. However, that is why I shall be teaching you the rest," Dumbledore explained.

The girls pulled out their wands at his instruction, then, and began to attempt to cast the charm 'Wingardium Leviosa' which would make things float in midair.

o.O.o.O.o

Taranee and Hay Lin walked briskly through the corridors that Sunday, having managed to find a time to meet one another after their studies were over before walking towards the library. No one really used the library much on Sundays (except for Hermione and others who valued studying over socializing) which is why the Guardians had arranged to meet Orube for some time to catch up and figure out just exactly what she was doing at Hogwarts. As Taranee and Hay Lin approached their destination, they ran into Will, Irma, and Cornelia as they came from the direction of Gryffindor tower.

"How are we gonna keep Madam Pince from kicking us out if we all talk?" Irma whispered once they had made their way into the library itself. Taranee thought that it was a pretty good question, as in the week they had been at the magical school she had discovered what a notoriously stern woman the librarian was.

"You're having a tutoring session with me; we're allowed to talk, so long as we keep our voices to a discreet level." Orube herself, or rather Professor Rebecca Rudolph to everyone else, had emerged from behind one of the bookshelves. Taranee had forgotten how sneaky that woman could be. The Basiliadean had said this in front of the librarian, who nodded but sent the girls a glare just for good measure.

They found a secluded table far in the back of the vast room, nestled in between nooks filled with shelves that teemed with knowledge, specifically old tomes dealing with various advanced charms and incantations. Taranee itched to get her hands on some of those, as Professor Flitwick was her Head of House and would probably be focusing much on his own subject when he taught her, just as Dumbledore had said during their private lesson on Friday.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Orube said with a small shrug of her shoulders, looking remarkably blasé about everything.

"Um, maybe what happened to you after you left? Why didn't you ever come back until now, and more importantly why didn't you tell us!" Irma shot back.

"The Oracle placed me here in order to keep and eye on you, and to help bring me out of the dark place I was in. I was getting better, training with a newfound vigor in all of the top schools across Basiliade. I was consumed by grief, loss, and anger... I was in so much pain." The girls listened intently to the feline woman's words, watching as her eyes seemed to swim over with memories of the loss of Cedric and what she must have gone through alone after she had returned to her own world.

"Cedric and I... We were both different people in a world that everyone else fit in so well. We understood what it was to be an alien, a stranger. That's why it was so easy for us to connect, so easy for me to fall in love with him" she continued. Taranee placed her hand on Orube's in a sign of comfort. She knew what it felt like to lose someone she loved, but perhaps not as profoundly as Orube; Cedric was stolen from her, his life ended just as their relationship was beginning. Despite the differences the Guardians had with Cedric, as he had been their enemy and right hand of Phobos, she truly felt for their friend.

"Yan Lin called me back to Kandrakar once you five had been accepted to Hogwarts. She explained what it was, and how it would function in the grand scheme of things as would help bridge a connection between the human Wizarding world and the worlds watched over by Kandrakar itself. All those young magical children you've been seeing popping up, the ones you were tasked to teach, are Muggleborn witches and wizards. Yan Lin has realized the importance of getting you five educated in the same manners as these children will be. Their families will, like many other muggleborns, be given a limited indoctrination into the wizarding world. Inter-magical cooperation is what she called it, for the greater good," Orube said with a bit more force in her voice, which had lost part of its sadness. Hay Lin looked somewhat perturbed.

"Why didn't Grandma tell all of us this? Why did she not warn us, or help us with our decision?"

"Because she wanted you to come to the right conclusion on your own. She said it would strengthen the connection between worlds," Orube explained, but Will didn't look satisfied.

"I feel my powers growing here, but they don't quite mesh with the Wizarding form of magic yet. They feel... Separate, as if they were fighting back against this new power I'm trying to command. I feel a weight on my chest every time I use my Guardian powers here..."

"That's because the Heart has returned to you. It was necessary to be separate from you in order for the root of your element to intertwine with you completely, but now it is back." Will stared at Orube with wide eyes; Taranee also looked at her friend, concerned.

"Will you be able to handle all that magical power swirling inside of you?" the Fire Guardian asked worriedly. The redhead nodded slowly, taking deep breaths as she did so.

"I understand why I'm having trouble with control now, but I'm confused as to why my magic hasn't exploded out of me yet and consumed this place whole," she said sheepishly.

"Your powers are trying to awaken and accept these new methods of magic being taught to you at Hogwarts; it's as if you're being opened up to a completely new bodily organ or learning a new language. It takes time to assimilate, but when it fully registers you'll all be quite powerful and capable of many feats. This is why Yan Lin arranged everything, to enrich your own magical power but also to help the Wizrding world in its time of need," Orube explained further. Taranee took this all in with a serious expression on her face. She realized that Yan Lin had good intentions, but she couldn't help but wonder if there was something else at play here.

"Is that it? Just to be able to help this community out and to make ourselves better people?" Taranee asked with a strange tone of coldness in her normally warm voice. She had gotten sick of the Oracle's games before, and despite liking Yan Lin a whole lot more she had her reservations. Heck, Orube had replaced her on the team for a while due to these feelings! The woman from Basiliade nodded.

"That is all I was told. Perhaps there is a bigger picture, perhaps Yan Lin did not wish to worry me with minute details that may not even come to pass. All I know is that I am here for you, we can work together to save these wizards and witches from this Dark Lord and improve our own skills in the process." Taranee thought that she rather sounded much too invested in the aspect of training and bettering herself, but she understood also that Orube was broken and still mourning Cedric in many ways. Teaching others and being taught new things must be therapeutic for her.

As they finished catching up with Orube, Taranee caught Will's eye as the Guardian of Energy opened her palm and the familiar glow of the Heart of Kandrakar filled the little alcove. Will seemed determined, and both relaxed and a bit frightened at having the jewel back in her possession, but Taranee sent her an encouraging smile. They were back together as a team like from when they first started, and everything was starting to feel like home again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Eight: Complete!
> 
> Orube explains a lot more of what is going on with the magical children, Kandrakar, and ultimately I took the liberty of giving the Heart back to Will because without it in the first place it just didn't feel right, and I hated that twist in the comic series... More on that, and her breakup (and, well, all the other girls' love lives) will be revealed over time.
> 
> Comments are always welcome!


	9. Gryffindor Tryouts & A Sluggy Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Will's turn to try out for Quidditch, and following that, a handful of individuals are asked to a private dinner with Professor Slughorn...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of Nov. 2017, I have gone through this fic and touched up some plot points that bothered me, as well as attempting to fix any errors I can find in general. Refurbished to the best of my ability, here is the new and improved story, which I hope to continue to completion.
> 
> Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling; W.I.T.C.H. was created by Elisabetta Gnone. I do not own either of these works, I'm just having some fun in their worlds for a while.
> 
> Author's Note at the end may answer some of your questions, but for now, enjoy!

As the Hufflepuff tryouts had been thus far a success, Will began to notice Harry looking increasingly distressed and grumpy as he had yet to complete his own tryouts for the Gryffindor team. Of course their entire year was struggling, it seemed, with the demand placed on them to use nonverbal spells rather than saying the incantations out loud in many of their subjects. Frankly, Will was thankful that she was used to the opposite in a manner of speaking, as her Guardian magic came naturally without any words and simply as a feeling of power coursing through her system. In fact, she felt rather silly muttering spells in Latin while waving a stick around; she was fond of her new wand, of course, but some things were too deeply ingrained in her mind for her to get used to without time passing. She was grateful for the return of the Heart, however, as its familiar weight soothed her in times when she felt a little lost or confused.

The Heart also brought back some issues, however; firstly she knew that it was going to be difficult for her to balance the Heart's powerful magic with her getting used to the awakening of her new Wizarding world magic, and she had to concentrate harder in order to maintain her powers in check. Secondly, she was reminded of the fact that the Heart itself was taken from her to begin with by Matt, her ex boyfriend. Shuddering at the thought of him being able to practically root around in her soul in order to take it from her, she turned her attention back to Harry and the rest of her Gryffindor friends at the breakfast table.

"I'm telling you, Hagrid's got it wrong if he thinks we actually enjoyed his class!" Ron said with a burst of frustration.

"It's not that we didn't like it," Hermione began tentatively, observing Harry's reaction to their words carefully. "He just expected too much from us, because he himself was able to handle much more, erm... eccentric creatures than on the curriculum." It had come to their attention that one of their favorite professors and good friends had stopped coming to meals and would avoid speaking to his three favorite students if by chance they would have a potential meeting. Hermione had decided that it would be best for them to go and visit Hagrid in order to explain themselves. Will bit her lip.

"Aren't you planning on having Quidditch tryouts today, though?" she reminded Harry and Ron. They nodded vehemently, trying to make a point to the Gryffindor bookworm.

"Exactly. We should get going, we can visit Hagrid after I manage to get the team sorted out. We're the last ones to do it, and even Hufflepuff seem to have jumped the gun... Your friend Hay Lin is a really good flier..." Harry reasoned, shooting a look over to the Hufflepuff table where Hay Lin was laughing at something that Ernie Macmillan had said. A dark look came over Harry's eyes and he turned back to his friends. "I can't screw this up, okay? It's my first year as Captain!"

There had been so many applications for the Gryffindor Quidditch team that Harry didn't know what to do with himself; Will remembered that when she herself had signed on to his list, he had looked at her with a bit of relief perhaps because he had seen her fly with him this summer and that in itself gave her hope that she might have a chance of making it on the team.

"Oh Harry, don't be so naive!" Hermione tutted. "It's not Quidditch that's popular, it's you! You're quite frankly one of the most interesting people in the school, and never been more fanciable." Ron promptly choked on a bit of kipper as he stared at Hermione, who only deigned him with a small tilt of her head accompanied by a slight raise of her eyebrow.

"Yeah, come on Harry. The Wizarding World finds out you're right all along about V... You-Know-Who, and rumors start circulating that you might be the Chosen One to defeat him... Frankly, I'd have a crush on you too!" Irma chipped in with a shrug that earned her a smack from Cornelia. Harry turned pink but looked down at his food with a small smile anyways.

"Oh, good, mail's here. Maybe you've got one from your REAL crush, George..." Cornelia jibed at Irma who glared at her but scanned the incoming swarm of owls with eager eyes. One shot straight for Harry who caught the package deftly and unwrapped it with a little cry of triumph.

"Ha! This should be good" he began, holding his new copy of Advanced Potions Making sent to him by Flourish and Blotts. Hermione perked up.

"Oh, wonderful, now you can give that marked up one back to Slughorn and follow along properly," she said with a smirk. Harry raised his eyebrows and tsked. He then whipped out his wand.

" _Diffindo!_ " he said, and the book cover fell off of the new copy; he did the same for the scribbled in version that was in his bookbag, and then he swapped the covers; once he was finished he tapped them again and said " _Reparo!_ " so that the books mended themselves again. Hermione looked scandalized, while Irma and Will simply snickered.

"He'd better not complain, I paid good money for this!" Harry protested. Hermione and Cornelia simply ignored him and unrolled a copy of the Daily Prophet, checking the newspaper to see for developments outside of Hogwarts, if anyone they knew had been killed or imprisoned and the like.

"People really are terrified," Cornelia said softly, looking up from the grim moving pictures in the paper and across the Great Hall to the other students.

"The Patil twins parents want them to go home, and Eloise Midgen has already been withdrawn!" Hermione pointed out somberly.

"What! Do people not realize that Hogwarts is the safest place we can be right now? Look at all this upped security... Plus we've got Dumbledore!" Ron said, shocked.

"Not all the time, I think... Look!" Hermione countered, jerking her head to the Headmaster's empty seat in the Great Hall. "He must be off doing things for the Order. Things really are looking bad."

They all exchanged knowing looks, remembering a horrible incident the day before in Herbology where Hannah Abbott had been taken out of class and told that her mother had been found dead. They had not seen Hannah since; Hay Lin had told them that she was devastated and had left to go be with her family for a while. Will figured that this was a hard blow on Hannah, of course, but also for the Air Guardian; she was just making a new friend, it seemed, when she was abruptly taken away from her by extraneous circumstances. Will hoped that Hay Lin was able to see all the different sides of this incident, as in fact it would only help solidify the promise they had made that morning in the Leaky Cauldron, wanting to help the Wizarding World during this war as best they could.

With that thought in mind, Will took a final swig of her pumpkin juice and stood up from the table to head down to the Quidditch pitch with the rest of them. Cornelia and Irma had come along, of course, to cheer her on from the stands. In fact, they were joined not too long after by both Taranee, Luna, and Hay Lin who swore she wasn't spying and was only there to support Will. On their way they passed Parvati and Lavender who were deep in conversation it seemed about this recent development in the issues Parvati's parents had with the school's supposed safety; however, as Ron passed them Parvati nudged Lavender who turned around and gave him a wide smile. Will arched her eyebrows and shared a look with Taranee, as Ron seemed to pick himself up and walk at a sort of a strut after returning her smile.

Suppressing their laughter, Will said goodbye to her friends as they went up into the stands and went with Harry down to the pitch itself. Ginny had let her borrow some equipment to try out in, and she was glad for it as none remained in the pile of school stuff; it looked like it was picked clean by a bunch of vultures. She clutched the broom that she had grabbed from the school supply last week, thankfully, and waited next to Ginny in the rather large cluster of students trying out for Chaser. Harry seemed to be in conversation with a rather large wiry-haired boy who acted a bit cocky by the way he held himself; without warning, he turned and abruptly made his way to the group of Keeper hopefuls. Will watched him curiously as he spoke to Ron next, and suddenly he looked up and caught her eye. He then proceeded to wink at her. She gave him a look of pure befuddlement before scoffing and turning away, her intent now completely on Harry and what he was instructing them to do.

"Okay, um, how about you all get into groups of ten and fly in a circle around the pitch," he began, due to the sheer amount of people who had shown up.

The first group were a bunch of first years who seemed to never have flown in their lives; Harry immediately disqualified them as first years couldn't even be on the team to begin with, and they flew so terribly that it wouldn't have mattered either way. The second group was a bunch of ninnies who had only shown up in order to flirt with Harry, it seemed.

"They'd never have a chance with him, really," Ginny mumbled sourly to Will, who sensed something more to that comment but let it be. "Romilda Vane has been trying to figure out a way to get with him, she's completely absurd," the youngest Weasley continued, indicating a dark-haired girl who was giggling and pulling her friends off of the pitch once Harry had dismissed them. The third group began at a bit of a wobbly pace and ended up in a huge pileup of brooms and limbs about halfway through their flight; Harry dismissed them also; this was followed by a fourth group who mostly didn't even have a broomstick to try out with. The fifth group were Hufflepuffs.

At this point, Harry angrily began shouting at all the people trying out that if they were a first year or not a Gryffindor to get off the pitch; snickering, a few Ravenclaws also left and went to join the rest of the rejects to watch in the stands. Will noticed Hay Lin shoot Harry an apologetic look and wave her arms denying that she had anything to do with this as the Hufflepuffs left, as he had turned to narrow his eyes at her. With a snort, Will realized that soon it would be her turn to fly with a group; it consisted of herself, Ginny, Dean, Seamus, a girl called Demelza Robins, Katie Bell, little Colin Creevey and his brother Dennis, Jack Sloper, and a small looking third year named Mary or Martha or something like that.

On Harry's signal, they kicked off and rose into the air one by one. They began circling the pitch at a steady pace, and even though Will was less adept in the air as Hay Lin she enjoyed flying and pushing herself to different limits. Perhaps it was because her core power consisted of not only pure Energy, but also was made up of little bits and pieces of the other Elements as well. She kept up with Ginny steadily; team veteran Katie Bell also managed to fly with them without problems. The other girl, Demelza, also seemed to be doing rather well on her broom, and Will figured that she'd be her biggest competition for the spot so she decided to keep her eyes peeled for any special aerial moves that she might pull later.

Once all the groups had flown and Harry had kicked out all the rejects based on their aptitude for flying alone, he passed on to the mock Quidditch game that would determine his final selections for the Chasers and Beaters. It ended up being like this: Will, Ginny, and Dennis Creevey were the first round of Chasers against Katie, Demelza, and Dean. Will steeled herself for a tough battle as Dennis wasn't doing too well to begin with, and she felt that Harry had kept him on the field out of pity to finish his trial.

Once the whistle blew, however, she was in the zone. She shot off after Ginny, blocking Demelza full on and catching the Quaffle that Ginny had tossed to her once Katie had started heading her way to steal it. Will shot over to the goalhoops by arcing her broom above all of the other players and whirling around Dean who had shot up to try and follow her; she zoomed over to the tallest goalhoop and sent the Quaffle straight in.

Cheers erupted from the stands and from her own 'teammates'; as she flew by Ginny again to regroup she received a high five. And so this continued for about two hours as the applicants slugged it out amongst themselves to vie for positions on the team. In the end, Ginny had proven herself to be the top Chaser out of the applicants and ended up scoring seventeen goals after outflying everyone else, while Katie Bell had smoothly managed to return to the team after a great trial. As Harry announced the final name, Will held her breath.

"Will Vandom! Congratulations!" he said with a huge grin. She screamed in triumph, zooming over to Ginny and Katie and nearly knocking them off their brooms in a large mid-air group hug. Harry then told Demelza that she'd be the next up on reserve if anything should happen to one of the other Chasers. She seemed content with that, as she had a very busy schedule and would need time to study.

His two beaters were a broad-chested third year named Jimmy Peakes who had succeeded in knocking a large goose-egg on the back of Harry's head with a Bludger, and Ritchie Coote who looked a bit weedy but had impeccable aim; in fact he had almost managed to smack Will in the chest with a Bludger during one of the previous plays.

"Alright, you lot, now let's try out the Keepers..." Harry said, albeit a bit nervously as Ron had a rather hard time with nerves and instead on heading out after their failed tryouts, the rejected players headed to the stands to watch the rest of it and were joined by others from the castle to boot. Harry instructed for Will, Ginny, and Katie to take turns in attempting to score goals while the applicants for Keeper tried blocking them. As she flew and scored goals, Will felt that in many ways she was also proving to onlookers just what a good choice she was for the spot of Chaser; every time she made one in, she received a large cheer from the crowd below which delighted her.

She managed to score quite a few combined goals with Ginny and Katie, as the first five applicants managed to save no more than two or three goals apiece. The big, cocky looking boy who had been talking to Harry earlier (and winked at Will, which caused her general discomfort and she hoped that he wouldn't do so well just because of that) seemed pretty good however, as he saved four out of five shots. The last one that Ginny pelted at him looked like he was going to get it, yet for some reason he went lumbering off in the opposite direction of the Quaffle to the general amusement of everyone who saw it.

It was Ron's turn next, and he looked rather green in the face as he mounted his Cleansweep. A chorus of "Good luck, Ron!" sounded from the stands from the general area where Will's friends were sitting; she gave Ron a thumbs up when he caught her eye. In all honesty, however, she was a bit worried that he'd screw up due to his nerves. She needn't have worried so, however, as he saved all five penalty shots including a rather difficult one from Ginny. Delighted, she and the other girls cheered him on and tackled him into a group hug much like the previous one, save the fact that due to shock Ron nearly fell off his broom. They hastily made to land, touching the grassy ground of the pitch still laughing.

"Give me another go!" Will turned to the sound of the outburst only to see Harry engaged in an argument with the big boy from earlier. His face was red and angry, while Harry seemed to be somewhat nervous but resolute nonetheless.

"Ron beat you, McLaggen, fair and square," was Harry's response.

"Rubbish! His sister didn't really try, she gave him an easy one!" the boy called McLaggen growled. Will heard Ginny scoff and she nearly went over there to give him a piece of her mind if it weren't for Katie holding her back.

"This is Harry's fight, let him deal with it," the other Chaser hissed.

"Ron's Keeper, end of story," Harry said coldly, and with that he pushed past McLaggen and made his way over to the new Gryffindor Quidditch team. "Well done, everybody..." he began with a croak in his voice from having yelled so much today. At this point the stands were emptying themselves, and Hermione had made her way over to them followed by the rest of the Guardians who looked ecstatic for Will.

"You all did great!" Irma congratulated them. "Now Will's gonna have to try and beat Hay Lin in the Air, though, let's see how that turns out..." she joked with a raise of her eyebrow. Cornelia glared at her, a look that clearly said 'shut up before I smack you.'

"We'll have our first full practice this Thursday, alright?" Harry scheduled, and the rest of the team nodded. With that, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made plans to go and fix things with Hagrid. The girls then decided to head back up to the castle and spend some time with one another, as it had been a while since they were all properly free enough from their studies in class, with their Heads of House, and the Headmaster himself to hang out.

"Hay Lin, have you bought your Quidditch supplies yet?" Will asked nervously as they walked back up to the castle.

"No, I was waiting to see if you'd get on the team honestly," Hay Lin admitted. "We can place our orders today and send them off with Aeolus! He's dying to get out and fly some," she said excitedly. Will nodded, pulling off her outer robes as she was still rather worked up from all those acrobatics on her broom. As they entered the castle, laughing at one of Irma's impressions of Professor Binns, Will spotted Draco Malfoy skulking off with what looked like two little first year girls. He caught her eye, looked her over and seemingly figured out she had just been playing Quidditch before he rolled his eyes rather prominently and strutted off.

"I can't understand what he dislikes about me so much!" Will suddenly burst out in a fit of frustration. "He's a pompous jerk, but I never really spoke to him all that much! Honestly!"

"Except for the time you threatened to hex his bits off on the train?" Irma supplied less than helpfully, and Will glared at her.

"I guess that was a bit rude, but seriously that guy needs an attitude adjustment. He reminds me of Nashter..." she trailed off, suddenly blushing at the rather confusing memories she had of the leader of their former rival squad, the Runics.

Nashter had quit his position but retained his powers of Energy, powers that resembled her own in almost every way. He had then moved to Earth from his own dimension and had encountered Will a few times; at first they bickered constantly and Will didn't trust him as far as she could throw him (which was a lot if she was using her powers), yet over time she realized that he wasn't so bad. Eventually they had even formed a strange friendship, one that surprised her more than anyone else. Cornelia had witnessed firsthand, however, that there was something more to it than just friendship. Nash had developed feelings for her, and had Will not still been together with Matt (despite her resentment at his constantly being busy and never having time for her) perhaps something could have come from it. Shaking these thoughts away, her eyes followed the retreating form of Draco Malfoy until he rounded the corner and vanished.

o.O.o.O.o

As their day came to a close and dusk settled in on the grounds, Cornelia and the girls made their way to the Great Hall for dinner. On their way, they came across Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they returned from a lengthy meeting with Hagrid.

"He's mostly been upset because of his pet Acromantula getting ill," Hermione explained to them as they proceeded towards the double doors of the Hall. "That's a really large, intelligent spider," she clarified upon seeing the looks of confusion on the Guardians' faces.

"Eeew! Gross, why would anyone want that for a pet? I've got goosebumps, look!" Taranee exclaimed, showing her arm to Irma who snorted. Ron turned towards her and nodded his head fervently.

"No, you're absolutely right. Bloody thing had thousands of offspring, too, and they nearly tried to eat us in second year... I still have nightmares..." he recalled. Taranee gave him a sympathetic look.

"Ah, there you are, Harry!" a bombastic voice suddenly had them turning to face Professor Slughorn. "I was hoping that rather than eating here in the Great Hall tonight, you could come with me and have a little supper in my quarters instead... Very exclusive, we'll have a delightful time. I've already invited Misters Zabini and Nott, and McLaggen will be there, and Melinda Bobbin as well... Of course I'd be delighted if Miss Hale, Miss Granger, and Miss Cook were to join us!" he exclaimed, bowing slightly at the three girls who shuffled awkwardly in place at being singled out.

"Oh, well... er... That is to say... I have a detention with Professor Snape tonight, I'll not be able to go," Harry finished after a moment of deliberation on how to best bring something like that up.

"Ah! Not to worry, not to worry, I'll just have to speak with Severus, then. You ladies take a moment to decide, then, and I'll see you shortly?" the Professor chortled, and promptly wandered off presumably to the staff table in order to speak to the DADA Professor.

"Um, should we go?" Cornelia asked Hermione and Taranee. She was honestly curious as to why their walrus of a Potions master singled her out, and in addition she had definitely heard that Theodore Nott was among the invited. She was more than a little intrigued by the idea of spending an evening intimately dining with him, especially as they had been growing more amicable due to Potions class being spent in each other's company. Ron and Irma both huffed a little bit at this question, however, and Cornelia immediately sensed some jealousy brewing.

"Go ahead, you smarty-pantses deserve a night all holed up together like a bunch of snooty teacher's pets," Irma remarked sarcastically, yet she was careful to inject some cheer into her tone to not come across as overly negative or supremely petty.

"Yeah, plus Ginny will probably be there so you'll all have a ball," Ron remarked in return, shooting them all a sour look. Hermione anxiously bit her lip while Taranee's eyes drooped a bit in guilt.

"You go on, I'd rather eat in the Great Hall anyway," Will injected hastily. "More selection of food in case Slughorn offers something weird," she finished, proceeding to drag Irma and Ron inside towards the Gryffindor table while Hay Lin trailed in behind them, choosing to head back over to the Hufflepuff table since her presence was demanded by the boys who were all still a bit in shock at the departure of Hannah Abbott. Cornelia shrugged and linked arms with both Taranee and Hermione as they steered themselves away from the noise of the Hall and over towards the old Professor's quarters.

"I know why you're so eager to go, Cornelia... But I'm really not sure I'm up for watching you flirt all night" Taranee said with a smile.

"Shut up, you might meet some other smart kids from Ravenclaw and make more friends!" Cornelia countered. Hermione still looked a bit bewildered at going along with this, but she chuckled all the same.

"Don't tell me it's Theodore Nott you're after? He's always seemed like such a loner, yet when placed in your company he comes out of his shell... At least from what I see in Potions!" the bookworm commented, earning herself a hip nudge from the blonde.

"Hey! He's intelligent and aloof, but he's showing an interest in me, a Gryffindor... And I want to find out why," she admitted. Once they arrived, they were greeted by a sour-faced Ginny who had been dragged to the little party by Slughorn himself as Ron had predicted, but upon seeing the girls she showed visible signs of relief.

"Good thing you're here, I'd have loathed to spend time in here alone with the likes of Zabini... What a prat he is," she hissed under her breath as the dark-skinned Slytherin cast their little group a bored yet reproachful look and said something to Nott. Cornelia's breath hitched as he looked over and made eye contact with her; he didn't smile, but his eyes seemed to brighten upon seeing her.

"Come come, everyone, sit down! No, mix it up a little and sit over here... Yes, quite alright!" Slughorn bustled around the table, and to everyone's (except Ginny's) general amusement he steered her into a seat right next to Blaise Zabini, who looked less than pleased at this arrangement.

Cornelia made a decision, then, and plopped herself in a chair one seat over from Zabini; as she predicted, Theo took the empty seat between her and the other Slytherin. Hermione looked like a rabbit cornered by a fox as she was accosted and dragged into a seat by the boy from the tryouts earlier, Cormac McLaggen; Taranee ended up between a boy called Marcus Belby and an unpleasant looking Slytherin girl who apparently had an identical twin as well.

"So glad to be spending an evening in your company, Miss Hale... I daresay you'd never be seen eating with me on any other occasion," Theodore suddenly spoke. Cornelia's eyes flashed briefly over his form, which was casually draped in the chair in a rather alluring manner.

"I suppose you're right. Gryffindor and Slytherin don't usually mix well, from what I've seen," she replied, nodding her head in the direction of Ginny and Blaise who seemed to already be bickering. Theo laughed, a deep chuckle that resounded in his throat and that Cornelia was startled to find herself wanting to hear it more than once.

"Sometimes it can all work out, however different appearances may lead to believe," he spoke cryptically, and before she could ask him to elaborate Slughorn called them to attention and began serving the appetizer.

The entire meal was actually quite elegant and tasteful, and Cornelia found herself enjoying it immensely as she spent the evening chatting with some of the group as a whole, her mother's training on etiquette and how to be ladylike impressing the Professor and all those who spoke to her; yet the part she enjoyed the most was all the time she spent speaking with Theo. They talked about anything, from magical experiences (although Cornelia altered some of her stories considerably) to family matters, likes and dislikes, and if it weren't for the others at the table Cornelia felt that they could have even delved into deeper and more personal topics. All the while, through the occasional sip of nettle wine and bite of roast pheasant, she stared into his vibrant green eyes and found that she wanted to keep looking as far as she could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Nine: Complete!
> 
> If you'd like, leave me a comment and some requests for what you'd like to see more of/ which characters you'd like more of a spotlight on! As of right now, Will and Cornelia have been getting a lot of showtime as I said before because of their sharing the same year and house as the Golden Trio... Yet once the storyline starts to deviate we'll see more of the other Guardians. Next chapter, for example!
> 
> Comments, as mentioned before, are always appreciated!


	10. Hogsmeade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang experiences Hogsmeade, and Irma goes on a date!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of Nov. 2017, I have gone through this fic and touched up some plot points that bothered me, as well as attempting to fix any errors I can find in general. Refurbished to the best of my ability, here is the new and improved story, which I hope to continue to completion.
> 
> Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling; W.I.T.C.H. was created by Elisabetta Gnone. I do not own either of these works, I'm just having some fun in their worlds for a while.
> 
> Author's Note at the end may answer some of your questions, but for now, enjoy!

The morning of the first Hogsmeade trip, halfway through October, dawned stormy, and many of the students at Hogwarts were quite pleased to find out that the trips were still allowed due to the tightened security; it was a definite relief to get out of the castle every once in a while.

Irma awoke quite suddenly, butterflies cavorting through her stomach as she realized that on this day she'd finally get to see George again. They had been corresponding weekly at this point, their letters something Irma could look forward to throughout the increasingly fierce workload of her classes (on top of which she maintained extra lessons with Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall). So far, her classes seemed to be going okay, with her best being Charms, Potions, and Divination, though this last did not surprise her. This year, the subject's classes were divided evenly between Professor Trelawney and Firenze the centaur; Irma was in his class. She was able to scry within the pool of crystalline water which the Headmaster had bewitched into the forestscape of a classroom. Firenze was quite hard to read, being a centaur and all, but Irma began to suspect that he had a deeper knowledge of her abilities than he let on.

Pushing aside thoughts of school, Irma shot up out of bed and began rifling through her trunk for her shrunken bag of clothing; she was not about to be wearing robes while out with George! Upon locating her bag, she set it on her bed and realized suddenly that she couldn't remember the spell to change the bag's size back to normal. Shiftily glancing around the room and noticing all her roommates were still sleeping, she waved her hand over the bag and with a bright blue glow, it grew back to its normal size. Irma smirked to herself, grateful for her familiar elemental magic, and began choosing what to wear.

By the time she had decided on a getup, a dark blue fluffy sweater with some jeans, black boots, scarf, and her winter cloak, Ginny was also awake and dressed. Shaking her head knowingly, the two headed down to breakfast. The others were already there, equally as bundled up for the cold outside, and Ron seemed to be regaling them all with an amusing story.

"...and there was another flash of light and I landed on the bed again!" Ron finished with a grin, helping himself to a heaping pile of sausages with his eggs. Will looked perplexed, Cornelia slightly perturbed, but Hermione seemed to not have cracked a smile during this entire anecdote, turning a look of distinctly wintry disapproval on Harry.

"Was this spell you used on him, by any chance, another one from that potion book of yours?" she asked. Harry frowned at her, grumbling.

"Always jump to the worst conclusions, don't you?"

"Well, was it?"

"Er... well, yeah, it was, but so what?" he bit back.

"So," Hermione began in a tone of barely contained frustration, "you just decide it's a good idea to try out an unknown, untested, handwritten incantation and see what would happen?" she fired at him. Cornelia raised an eyebrow at the exchange, delicately sipping from her pumpkin juice while Will seemed to embarrassedly pour herself more coffee in order to avoid the situation entirely. Irma was only just coming up to speed on it all, but exchanged a look with Ginny.

"Why does it matter that it's handwritten, anyway?" said Harry in retort, evading the rest of Hermione's questions Irma noted.

"Because it's not Ministry of Magic-approved," Hermione replied primly. "And also," she added, "because this Prince character is starting to seem kind of dodgy." Irma cringed as Hermione said this, knowing full well what was to come as she personally agreed with anyone who was able to find a way around difficult lessons. Harry and Ron shot Hermione's comments down at once, outraged.

"It was just a laugh! That's all!" Ron upended the ketchup bottle over his sausages in the process of saying this, "Just a laugh!"

"Dangling people upside-down by the ankle?" said Hermione. "Who puts their time and energy into making up a spell like that?"

"Fred and George would," said Ron, causing Irma's stomach to flip again while Will seemed to choke on her coffee. "It's their kind of thing. And, er-"

"My dad," said Harry suddenly. They all gaped at him.

"What?" said Ron and Hermione together, while the three Guardians exchanged looks.

"I thought, um, your parents passed when you were little?" Will said as delicately as she could, looking rather lost.

"My dad used that spell when he went to Hogwarts... I've only just remembered. I- Lupin told me," he finished abruptly. Cornelia's brow furrowed at the last part of his statement, and Irma managed to pick up the mental link as the Earth Guardian spoke to them.

_'I don't think he's being fully honest, but what harm is there really?'_

_'Beats me,'_ thought Will. _'If Hay Lin had been here she'd have been able to sense if he was lying or not...'_

"Maybe your dad did use it, Harry," Hermione's voice brought them out of their thoughts and back to the breakfast table, "but he's not the only one. In case you've forgotten, we've seen a bunch of people use it. Dangling people in the air. Making them float along, asleep, helpless." Irma had a feeling they were no longer talking about students at Hogwarts. Ron butted in upon seeing Harry's crestfallen look.

"That was different. Those Death Eaters... they were abusing it. Harry and his dad were just having a laugh. You just don't like the Prince, Hermione, because he's better than you at Potions-" Ron was cut off by Hermione's indignant huff.

"It's got nothing to do with that! And stop calling him 'the Prince' as if it's his title," she said, her cheeks reddening all the same. Cornelia sat her cup down gently, making stern eye contact with the boys.

"Even though we've only been here a short while, it seems irresponsible to go trying out unknown spells without knowing their purpose," she said calmly, and the boys had the decency to look ashamed if only slightly.

"Yeah, I mean, he sounds like a slimeball if he's getting his friends to call him 'Prince' of anything," Irma piped in, though hastily adding "though it's pretty brilliant of him to have all these tips for Potions, I gotta admit."

"Well it's not like he was a budding Death Eater or anything," Harry finally snapped back. "He certainly wouldn't have boasted about being a Half-Blood, don't you think?"

"The Death Eaters can't all be pure-blood, there aren't enough pureblooded wizards left for that," Hermione countered stubbornly. "I expect most of them are half-bloods pretending they're pure. It's only Muggle-borns they hate, I'm sure they'd be quite happy to let you lot join up."

"Ha! There is no way they'd let me be a Death Eater, or Ginny for that matter," Ron said indignantly, an his sister snorted loudly over her cup of tea. Ron had brandished his fork so that a bit of sausage had flown off at this last statement, soaring over to the Hufflepuff table and hitting Ernie Macmillan on the head.

"Our whole family are blood traitors! That's as bad as Muggle-borns to those Death Eaters!" Ginny said hotly.

"And they'd love to have me," Harry said sarcastically. "We'd be best pals if they didn't keep trying to do me in." At this, the group collectively snickered; even Hermione managed a grudging smile.

"Well, what about you lot? Any budding Death Eaters amongst you?" Ron joked, referring to the three Guardians sitting there. Will scoffed audibly, Cornelia made a face, and Irma pretended to think about it.

"Gosh, I dunno, a bunch of bigoted, murderous arseholes sounds like just my kind of group!" she joked, and Cornelia gave her a look of disapproval. "Nah, they wouldn't take us. I guess we're all Muggleborns, aren't we?" Irma mused aloud. Will nodded.

"I suppose so, no one in our families has ever been magical... Well, my little brother is, but my mum has no idea yet..." she trailed off, frowning.

"If anyone's got magic in their family, it's Hay Lin. Her grandma was really powerful in her time..." Irma stated, only to earn a sharp kick under the table from both Will and Cornelia. "Ow!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged curious glances, but didn't say more; a distraction in the form of Hay Lin herself arrived at their table at that vey moment.

"Hi, Harry, I'm supposed to give you this!" she smiled, handing him a scroll of parchment written in thin, familiar slanted writing. Harry cheered up considerably at this, unrolling it to glance at it quickly.

"Dumbledore's next lesson!" he exclaimed. Hay Lin moved to take the seat Ginny was now rising to vacate, as she had spotted Dean coming into the Hall. "Fantastic, it's Monday night. Want to join us later in Hogsmeade, Ginny?" he asked the youngest Weasley as she finished extricating herself from the bench,

"I'm going with Dean, but I might see you there!" she replied brightly, waving as she walked off to meet him. Irma noted Harry's smile falter a bit, but he brushed it off quickly as the rest of them finished their breakfast.

After a short while they met up with Taranee in the entrance hall, who seemed quite excited to finally have some time with her friends. Irma thought to herself that as much as she was looking forward to seeing George again, she needed to make time for her girls as well. They arrived at the oak front doors where the caretaker Mr. Filch stood, checking off the names of those who had permission to go into Hogsmeade. The girls had received these with their brochure pamphlets that the Headmaster had sent to them as a cover for their families, and thus it had not been difficult at all to receive signatures to send back to the school. As Filch checked the names off, the group noted how much longer this process seemed to be taking as he was triple-checking everyone with his Secrecy Sensor.

"What does it matter if we're smuggling Dark stuff OUT?" Ron grumbled, side-eyeing the thin Sensor with a look of trepidation. "It makes more sense to be checking what we bring back IN, don't you reckon?" His cheek earned him a couple of extra jabs with the Sensor, and Taranee scolded him while Irma and Hay Lin laughed openly upon exiting the castle.

The cold air whipped across their faces not soon after, and the group immediately began wrapping scarves tighter and pulling hats lower over their faces. The walk down to the village of Hogsmeade was not altogether enjoyable, despite the freedom from school and new sights for the five Guardians. The road was full of students bent double against the bitter cold and sharp wind, and Irma managed to resolutely press forward only due to her excitement to see George.

They finally arrived at the little village, and Irma had to admit it was definitely worth the trip, in spite of the cold. It was a picturesque little cluster of thatched cottages, shops, and pubs. Irma remembered Hermione mentioning to them earlier that Hogsmeade is the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain. They meandered past a couple of shops down High Street, noticing that the place seemed rather less busy than expected.

"Zonko's is closed!" Harry exclaimed upon their reaching the village center, and the group turned their attention to the joke shop which was boarded up and rather sad looking. Irma squinted at the shop, feeling disappointed. If anywhere, George would be hanging around this particular shop while he waited for her. She turned away, only to be elbowed sharply in the ribs by Hay Lin. The door to the joke shop opened, and George stepped easily out from inside it, closing and locking it up behind him. Irma's eyes met his, and she grinned.

"Milady! At last, I see thine angelic features once more!" George called out dramatically, rushing towards her and scooping her up in a hug. He twirled her around a few times as she laughed, forgetting to feel cold and all traces of disappointment abandoning her.

"Good sir, the pleasure is all mine! I was wasting away in that lonely castle without thee!" she played along, and George's returning smile was dazzling.

"What were you doing in Zonko's? It's closed up!" Ron cut across their happy reunion, to Irma's grand annoyance. George did not seemed bothered, and merely waved him off.

"Never you mind, brother dear, go spend time with your friends while you can! I have a date with a fetching lass and will not allow another moment to be wasted!" he tutted, shooing Ron away and grabbing Irma's gloved hand within his own. Ron rolled his eyes but turned the rest of the group's attention to a colorful shop called Honeydukes across the way, which looked to be open. They headed off into the cozy looking store, leaving Irma with George.

"Well, alone at last!" she grinned at him, and he squeezed her hand as he began leading her down the street a ways towards a pub called the Three Broomsticks.

"I figured you'd prefer a place like this over Madam Puddifoot's!" George said with a wink as they made their way into the pub. It was decently populated with witches, wizards, and students enjoying a pint or a spot of lunch, and Irma liked the atmosphere immediately. It was warm, crowded, and a bit smoky but pleasant to be in; a large mirror behind the bar reflected the room back to the occupants, and a variety of interesting drinks could be seen on the shelf. George ushered Irma towards a booth table near the fireplace, where she settled in and took off her coat. George slid in next to her and did the same.

"Mr. Weasley! Joke shop going strong, then? And I'm sure I've never seen you before, dearie, what might be your name?" a busty woman with a kindly face was immediately upon them, greeting George and smiling at Irma. "I'm Madam Rosmerta, manager of this little ol' pub!"

"Irma Lair, transferred to Hogwarts this year, actually," Irma replied with a smile. "Looking forward to being here, the food looks fantastic!" she said truthfully, eyeing a plate of fish and chips hungrily. Madam Rosmerta laughed heartily and suggested she order a butterbeer to go along with her lunch, which Irma promptly did. Once their drinks had arrived (George had also gotten a butterbeer despite being of age to order something stronger), they settled into a comfortable sort of chatter.

"-and my charm was so forceful it knocked him right onto his back!" Irma finished, George laughing heartily at the image she painted of Professor Flitwick toppled onto the floor rolling around until the other students helped him up. "I felt bad, but he seemed pleased and decided to advance me to fifth-year charms! I'm finally caught up in four of my subjects, and it's only halfway through October!" Irma was extremely pleased with her progress; who'd have thought she of all people would be enjoying school? But in fact, she was caught up to fifth-year O.W.L. level in Charms, Divination, Potions, and Care of Magical Creatures. Her other classes were coming along, but she still had a ways to go before getting fully caught up by Christmas break as Professor Dumbledore expected.

"That's fantastic! It's really bizarre that you lot haven't been to a magical school before and all, though... care to elaborate?" George asked curiously, and Irma gulped due to a mixture of nerves and butterflies at his gaze.

"Erm, well... the five of us have kind of all known we had powers of sorts since we were 13 or so? But we learned how to control and work them on our own... Hay Lin's grandma was a really good teacher, but she passed shortly after we discovered our magic..." she trailed off, hoping her story was vague enough but still answered his questions fairly. She really liked this guy, and hated keeping things from him...

"Huh, that's still pretty unusual. I'm sure there's an explanation, but if anyone'd know how to make sense of it I suppose Dumbledore'll get to the bottom of it," George reasoned, taking a large swig of his butterbeer. Their food arrived at that moment, and Irma was glad as she was both hungry and looking for a way to steer clear of this topic.

After enjoying their food and another round of butterbeer, Irma was feeling full and content, warmed by the drink and their proximity to the fireplace. At one point during their meal, they saw the rest of their group file in (accompanied by Fred, who George had told her was with him earlier finalizing some paperwork). They waved, and though Ron and Harry seemed to start making their way over to the booth, Cornelia and Hermione yanked on their jackets and steered them towards the other side of the pub; Irma sent a mental thank you to the girls as they had the sense to offer some privacy on this date. George then slid closer to her in the booth, wrapping his arm gently around her waist.

"I've had a great time out here today with you, Irma," he said seriously, though smiling at her. She bit the inside of her cheek, heart hammering in her chest. "I'd really like to see you again next Hogsmeade trip if I can, that is, if you want...?

"Yes!" she blurted out quickly, flushing a bit. "I'd... I'd really like that, George..." she added a bit softly. His smile widened, and he seemed to turn a bit red for a moment before he spoke again.

"Would you... want to be my girlfriend, then?" he asked, striking an air of confidence despite it all. Irma felt her heart stutter for a moment before a smile split across her features.

"Absolutely, yes! I thought you'd never ask!" she grinned, and George's eyes sparked with something before he pulled her close and settled his lips gently over hers. Irma felt her knees go weak despite the fact that she was sitting down; she had never been kissed like this before, and never wanted anything less than George's kisses ever again.

o.O.o.O.o

Taranee figured she didn't really have a sweet tooth, but upon entering Honeydukes sweet shop she might have changed her mind. The warm, toffee-scented air invited even her to satisfy her sugar craving as soon as possible. She browsed quietly as the others seemed to scatter a bit, staring in wonder at the various wizarding candies and confections.

There were shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets imaginable. Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-coloured toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavour Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizzbees, levitating sherbet balls; along yet another wall were 'Special Effects' sweets: Drooble's Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell-coloured bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ('breathe fire for your friends!'), Ice Mice ('hear your teeth chatter and squeak!'), peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!') , fragile sugar-spun quills and exploding bonbons.

"Harry, m'boy!" a booming voice shattered Taranee out of her observations, and she turned to see the opulent form of Professor Slughorn turning towards Harry and a few others from their group. He was wearing a huge furry hat, complete with an overcoat that sported a matching furry collar. In his hand he clutched a large bag of crystallized pineapple; his presence occupied at least a quarter of the whole shop, and Taranee was surprised that they hadn't noticed him earlier.

"Harry, that's three of my little suppers you've missed now! It won't do, I'm determined to have you! Miss Granger, Miss Hale, and Miss Cook all love them, don't you?" he questioned jovially. Taranee winced at the expression on Ron's face.

"Yes," Hermione said helplessly, "they're really-"

"So, why don't you come along to my next one, eh Harry?" demanded Slughorn.

"I've had Quidditch practice, sir," Harry replied truthfully; Will had confided in Taranee that he'd been scheduling their practices every time Slughorn had sent out invitations to his dinner parties, in order to appease Ron as a strategy to not leave him out. In this way, she, Harry, Ron, and Ginny managed to have a bit of a laugh imagining the rest of them shut up with Zabini, McLaggen, and the like. Taranee rolled her eyes at the memory, and crossed her arms across her chest to see how Harry planned to get out of this one now.

"Well, I certainly expect a stunning victory from your team, what with all this practicing you've been doing!" Slughorn stated, "but nothing wrong with a little harmless recreation once in a while! Now, how about Monday night, you can't possibly want to practice in this weather-"

"I can't, Professor, I've got an - er - appointment with Professor Dumbledore that evening." Taranee actually gaped at Harry, shaking her head amusedly as he had managed to incredulously skive off another dinner.

"Unlucky again!" cried Slughorn dramatically, shaking his head and moving past them. "Ah, well... you can't evade me forever, Harry!" he called, waving at them regally and passing by Ron, Will, and Hay Lin as if they were not even there.

"I can't believe you've managed to wriggle out of another one," Hermione muttered.

"Yeah, they're not that bad, you know... even quite fun sometimes..." Cornelia added, paying little mind to the look Ron was giving her. The group then purchased a few sweets that interested them, noting that no matter what was said Ron's mood seemed glum.

"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer, yeah?" Harry suggested.

"What's a Butterbeer?" Hay Lin asked curiously, and Harry grinned at her.

"Oh, you're in for a treat! Come on, guys," he ushered them back out into the cold, windy street and they began trekking quickly towards their next destination.

"Oi, you lot!" a familiar voice called out to them, and Taranee turned to see Fred Weasley rushing towards them from the other end of the street; she suspected he had also been inside Zonko's doing who knows what. "Fancy a pint?" he asked upon catching up with them, throwing his arm casually around Will. "Fancy running into you here, hm? I suppose my brother has dashed off with a certain brunette?"

"You'd be correct," Will replied with a small laugh, though Taranee could tell she was flushing a bit. They turned towards the pub, noticing a short, raggedy man standing off to the side in front of it.

"Mundungus!" Harry exclaimed, and the squat, bandy-legged man jumped about a foot into the air, dropping his suitcase. He had straggly ginger hair and smelled of liquor, making Taranee wrinkle her nose in disgust. The suitcase had fallen onto the group and burst open, releasing onto the pavement what looked like the entire contents of a junk shop.

"Oh, 'ello 'Arry!" said Mundungus, in a tone that was unconvincingly pleased to see him. "Well, don't let me keep ya, go on!" he bustled about, scrambling in order to retrieve the fallen items from his suitcase as if his life depended on getting out of there as quickly as possible.

"Are you selling this stuff, Dung?" Fred asked, leaning over to peer at some of the contents that had escaped the case.

"Gotta scrape a living some'ow," Mundungus replied. "Gimme that!" Hay Lin had stooped over to pick some stuff up as an attempt to help the man, and he rudely snatched the thing out of her hand.

"Hang on," Ron now had stooped to pick up a silver looking goblet from the ground. "This looks familiar..."

"Thank you!" said Mundungus, now snatching the goblet from Ron's fingers and stuffing it back into his suitcase. "Well, best be going, now... OUCH!" Harry had barreled forward and pinned Mundungus to the wall of the pub by the throat. Holding him fast with one hand, with the other he drew his wand.

"Harry!" squealed Hermione, gripping onto Cornelia's arm tightly.

"You took this stuff from Sirius's house," said Harry in a dangerous voice. He was very close to Mundungus, their noses almost touching. "That had the Black family crest on it."

"I - no - what - ?" Mundungus attempted to get out, spluttering. He was slowly turning a deep shade of purple.

"What did you do, go back the night he died and strip the place?" snarled Harry.

"Fred, do something!" whimpered Hermione, now tugging onto Fred's arm desperately. Fred, however, was also glaring at Mundungus.

"Serves him right, Hermione, he's a crook," he muttered with a shrug. "I'm leaving Harry to handle this one, though I wouldn't mind helping." Hermione moaned quietly as she glanced around the street and Taranee noticed many people who previously rushing quickly to their destinations were slowing to watch the spectacle. Even those within the pub had begun to press their noses to the windows to see what was going on.

"Harry, you mustn't!" Cornelia finally shouted at him, as Mundungus was starting to turn blue. There was a loud bang and Harry's hands flew off of Mundungus's throat. Gasping, the short man grabbed his suitcase and spun on the spot, disapparating with a CRACK! Harry swore loudly, turning to see where he had gone.

"COME BACK HERE, YOU THIEVING -" he shouted, but was cut off.

"There's no point, Harry."

Taranee nearly gave a start as she almost did not recognize the newcomer as Tonks. She was sullen, her normally bright colored hair now a mousy brown and covered with sleet. She looked much more serious, with a gloomy expression on her heart-shaped face. Taranee wondered what had happened to cause this drastic personality change.

"Tonks! What're you doing here?" she asked, thinking it best not to say anything about her appearance.

"Stationed here to help patrol Hogwarts. New assignment and all," she replied curtly. "Harry, leave it be and get inside, now."

"He was nicking Sirius's stuff! Nicked it!" Harry shouted.

"Mundungus will probably be in London by now, there's no point in shouting." Tonks seemed completely untroubled and unhelpful at Harry's distress. "You lot should get out of the cold." She watched them all file in to the pub. After a brief scuffle in order to find enough seats together, they were all settled in around a few tables.

"I'll go get drinks. Hermione, care to help?" Fred asked, pulling her to her feet as they headed towards the bar. Harry seemed to still be fuming, his hands in fists on the table. Taranee, sitting between Ron and Cornelia, exchanged a look with them both.

"Harry, I know you're upset," began Hay Lin out of nowhere; she was seated on his other side, and she gently placed a hand on his back. "It seems like that man was stealing stuff from someone important to you, but... I'm sorry, if you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. But we are here for you, okay?" she finished, and Harry looked up at her, seeming to calm marginally.

"Yeah... thanks, Hay Lin." He seemed to still be fuming slightly, even after Fred and Hermione returned with their drinks.

"Okay, try this! It'll knock your socks off," Fred grinned, handing the Guardians each a foamy mug of warm butterbeer. Taranee tentatively held it to her lips and took a sip. It tasted of butterscotch, with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla, and warmed Taranee down to her toes. She smiled and took a larger sip.

"This is amazing!" Will gushed, and Fred grinned at her.

"Best part is that you can enjoy it hot in the winter and cold in the summer," Fred explained, and the girls all murmured their appreciation for the drink even more.

"Can't the Order control Mundungus?" Harry burst out suddenly in a furious whisper. "Can't they stop him from stealing everything that isn't fixed with a permanent sticking charm when he's at Headquarters?"

"Shhh!" Hermione hissed back frantically. Taranee was unsure as to what he was talking about, but from what she had read in her research on the first war, the Order was the organization that banded together to counter the Death Eaters. Was this Mundungus person a part of the new Order? And how did they, students, know so much about it?

' _Do you think he really is the Chosen One, then?_ ' she couldn't help thinking aloud to the girls through her telepathic link. ' _I mean, to know things about the Order of the Phoenix and all... they must all have a pretty good inside knowledge._ '

' _I'm not sure, but even if he is, he's our friend and we have to help in whatever way we can,_ ' was Hay Lin's immediate reply. Cornelia nodded imperceptibly, while Will looked troubled but in agreement all the same.

"Harry, you mustn't talk about this in here anymore," Hermione whispered, glancing around the room. In fact, there were many who sat nearby that were gazing at Harry with great interest, and Zabini was lolling against a pillar not too far away. "I'd be annoyed too," she continued, "I know it's your things he's stealing-" Harry gagged on the butterbeer he had been drinking, seemingly just now realizing the implications of her words.

"Yeah, it's my stuff!" he replied angrily. "No wonder he wasn't pleased to see me! Well, I'm going to tell Dumbledore about it during our meeting on Monday, if anyone can handle it, he can... he's the only one who scares Mundungus."

"Good idea," Hermione replied, relaxing as Harry seemed to deflate his anger upon making this decision.

"Ron, what are you staring at?" Cornelia asked, eyes narrowing at Ron's dreamy-eyed gaze directed away from their table.

"Nothing," he replied hastily, looking away from the bar. Taranee moved her own gaze towards the bar to see a curvy barmaid disappear into the back room, and she felt a pang of jealousy and annoyance course through her suddenly. Surprised with herself, she took another long swig of the drink in front of her.

"I expect "nothing"'s in the back getting more Firewhisky," Hermione retorted waspishly, and though Ron seemed to ignore the jibe, Fred snickered. Cornelia rolled her eyes and stood up, muttering something about the bathroom. Taranee watched her go, feeling an odd sensation as she left, a sense of foreboding, but she pushed it aside and eyed her butterbeer strangely.

"You say there's alcohol in these?" she asked the table at large, squinting at the drink. Maybe it was responsible for her odd sentiments just now. Ron waved a hand dismissively.

"Nah, it's not enough to matter. Unless you're a house-elf..." he trailed off with a small chortle, proceeding to tell them about the story of Winky the drunken house-elf, much to Hermione's disapproval.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Ten: Complete!
> 
> And here we are, up to date and with a NEW chapter! I hope anyone reading this story is pleased with this outcome so far, and I'd appreciate some feedback!
> 
> Comments are always welcome!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! I've decided to import this work from ff.net and revamp/edit/continue it. It was on that site under my old username, so I've listed that account as a co-author in order to avoid people freaking out about it. WE ARE THE SAME PERSON OKAY? I just needed a fresh start, hence this account. This story used to be called "Harry Potter and the Second War: Guardian Chronicles" but I changed that too because I kinda hate the name lol.
> 
> Please feel free to leave any comments or questions about the work, I'd be happy to answer them!


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